■\-'-'i:':-'-.. : ■■".■} ■■': 



HE DEGiNNERS WORKER. AN !)' 



'l m 



Hnm« V iM(M«WMHnM«w<MiijCf«Hm»M«s'<>Mr^v\x;«;M*«fVw ■>•*■>. •■•■■• 



FREDERIC -\ 



BEARD 





Class 

Book 



COPYRIGHT DKPOSrB 



The Worker and Work Series 

HENRY H. MEYER, Editor 



THE BEGINNERS' 

WORKER AND 

WORK 



By 



FREDERICA BEARD 




THE ABINGDON PRESS 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI 






Copyright, 191 7, by 
FREDERICA BEARD 



JUN -7 1917 

©CIA46736J 






CONTENTS 



ESSON PAGE 

I. "Consider How They Grow" 9 

II. Pictures of Child Life 15 

III. Some Meanings and Uses of Play 19 

IV. The Religious Life of a Little Child 25 

V. How to First Teach About God and Jesus. . . . . 31 

VI. The First Religious Training 35 

VII. The Motherly Teacher 41 

VIII. The Little Child's Sunday School a Home .... 45 

IX. Typical Plans for the Beginners' Session 51 

X. Some Principles of Teaching 61 

XI. Guides for Teaching 67 

XII. The Play Spirit 71 

XIII. Little Children Singing 75 

XIV. The Praying of a Little Child 87 

XV. The Purpose in Story-Telling 95 

XVI. Stories that Fulfill the Purpose 99 

XVII. Telling a Story 103 

XVIII. Truth Through Nature and Home Life 107 

XIX. The Wise and Unwise Use of Pictures 113 

XX. Forms of Self-Activity 117 

XXI. The Offering in the Beginners' Department . . 123 

XXII. Controlling Young Children 129 

XXIII. Successful Management of a Beginners' 

Department 133 

XXIV. Home Cooperation 139 

XXV. Special Festival Days 143 

XXVI. Three Groups of Beginners 147 

Appendix : 

Standard for a Beginners' Department 155 

Directions for Observation and for Prac- 
tice Teaching by the Training Class 157 

Illustrations 161 

Index 165 



TO SUCH BELONGETH THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 

Few chapters in the history of religious education are more 
fascinating than those dealing with the application of modern 
educational principles and approved pedagogical methods to 
the work of Christian nurture and training in the church 
school. These principles, based as they are upon the develop- 
mental conception of life, require that the growing child, 
with its rapidly changing needs and characteristics, shall be 
the determining factor in the formulation of a comprehensive 
program of religious instruction for the Christian Church. 
They are reflected in the Graded Courses of Study, the prepa- 
ration and gradual introduction of which are revolutionizing 
the work of the modern church on its religious-educational 
side. 

Graded courses of study demand graded organization and 
management, with an appropriate grouping of the pupils into 
grades and departments according to their attained age and 
relative degree of religious maturity. Of the departmental 
groups in the completely graded school the first is the Be- 
ginners' Department, which cares for the very little children 
during the first two or three years of their actual attendance 
at Sunday school, and before they are prepared to enter upon 
the more formal exercises of the first year class in the 
Primary. The Beginners' Department corresponds measur- 
ably to the kindergarten of the day school with its two years' 

5 



TO SUCH BELONGETH THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 

preparatory training for the first school grade. It includes 
usually all children under six years of age, who are never- 
theless old enough to be present, and to enjoy and participate 
in the simplest exercises conducive to their spiritual awaken- 
ing and development. For teachers in organized Beginners' 
Departments in graded church schools, for teachers and 
workers with children of Beginners' age in every school, for 
parents and all who are in any wise responsible for the 
religious life and nurture of little children anywhere, this 
book, The Beginners' Worker and Work, is intended. 

There is no sharp dividing line between infancy and this 
early period of childhood. Physical activity prompted by 
native impulse is still the predominating characteristic. This 
activity in little children is born of restlessness, because 
muscular action and bodily movement are as yet disconnected 
and not under full control. In children under six years of 
age instinctive feelings are strong though short-lived. The 
selfish instinct dominates, manifesting itself in various forms, 
among which a craving for recognition and approbation is 
noticeable. Imitation, curiosity, and a sense of rhythm are 
marked. The intellectual life moves upon the plane of con- 
crete sense perceptions, supplemented by a fanciful imagina- 
tion. The child is interested in things and persons, and in 
simple concrete situations or events. This indicates at once 
the method of approach for the parent and teacher in seeking 
to wisely shape the environment of the child in such a way 
as to facilitate the process of gradual unfolding. 

The foundations of character are laid during this period 
in the formation of habits of politeness, prompt and cheerful 
obedience, and frankness and loyalty toward teacher and 
parent. By means of simple stories which, in their cumula- 

6 



TO SUCH BELONGETH THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 

tive effect, represent life in its truer, nobler forms, the imagina- 
tion may be guided into profitable channels. Correct example 
in speech and action, a gentle but firm authority, together 
with wise and constant suggestion, constitute the appropriate 
methods of control. By means of these also the foundations 
of a religious life must be laid. In story, song, and simple 
service of prayer and worship the little child may be led to 
think of the heavenly Father who loves and provides for all 
his earthly children. 

Among all the laborers in the Master's vineyard none have 
a more responsible task and none a higher privilege than those 
intrusted with the religious care and nurture of little chil- 
dren, to whom by authority of the Master belongeth the king- 
dom of heaven. 

Henry H. Meyer. 

Cincinnati, Ohio, March i, 1917. 



LESSON I 
"CONSIDER HOW THEY GROW" 

A young girl stood beside an old gardener. Tenderly he 
was caring for a plant that by and by was to put forth its 
blossoms. Near them was a lily, fair and tall in its beauty 
and its grace. The girl looked at the flower, then at the 
boxes of bulbs of many kinds that were before her on the 
shelf, and again at the gardener preparing fresh soil for the 
plant that needed strengthening. Suddenly she exclaimed: 
"How does it come to be? How do you know what to do?" 
This old gardener was noted for the beauty of his garden. 
"Ah !" he said, "you must watch, and watch and watch ; bulbs 
are like children; they are all alike and yet all different. As 
I watch I find out what they need, and when I can't tell, 
those books help," and he nodded toward a pile of books 
lying on the shelf. "They tell what other people have found 
out." 

Another thought sprang to the girl's mind, but she did not 
express it to the gardener. On her way home she pondered, 
"Bulbs are like children: yes, and children are like bulbs — 
all alike, yet all different. That is why we need to study them 
before we try to teach." 

i. Growth is common to all life. "Children are like bulbs." 
Is that one reason why the Master told us to "Consider the 
lilies of the field, how they grow"? (Matt. 6. 28.) Henry 
Drummond has said : "For the temporal life we have con- 
sidered the lilies, but how is the spiritual life to grow? How 
are we to grow in grace? There is but one principle of 
growth both for the natural and spiritual, for animal and 
plant, for body and soul." We find out some things about 
children by doing as Jesus said and considering the lilies, how 
they grow. 

2. Growth is gradual. Look at a sprouting acorn or a 

9 



io THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

narcissus bulb, or, if you please, at an oat set on cotton-bat- 
ting over a glass of water where it can be easily watched, and 
see how it grows. It will not only grow larger but it will 
change. The change will come very gradually and often 
imperceptibly. Sometimes it seems as if there were a sudden 
bursting forth, but in reality there has been an invisible change 
going on for many days. Turn to your human plant and note 
that growth means more than difference in size. Other differ- 
ences come so gradually that often they are not noted until 
some act reveals that the boy is not what he was last month, 
Human life develops on the same general plan as that of all 
life. Time is indispensable to spiritual growth as to any 
other. The gardener knows he cannot hasten growth, for if 
he does, there will be either lack of beauty or lack of strength. 
Hothouse forcing may bring brilliancy, but it soon passes. 
However, he expects change; there must be continual growth, 
even though it is not visible at once, and he waits, expecting. 

3. Growth is progressive and orderly. We cannot have 
the bud before the leaf, the fruit before the blossom. Jesus 
said, "First the blade, then the ear, and after that the full 
corn in the ear" (Mark 4. 28). The good gardener has great 
patience; he rejoices in "the blade," but does not seek what 
does not belong to a particular time or period in the life of 
a plant. So must it be with the gardener of the human plant 
— the caretaker of the spiritual life of a little child. What 
"the blade" is in the Christian life — in other words, what little 
children ought to know and be and do religiously— will be 
discussed in lessons that follow. 

4. Growth is from within. Study a seed, a bulb, or a bud 
and see what this means. There is an unfolding upward and 
outward, through the action of the inner principle of growth. 
This unfolding, as has been noted above, is gradual and reg- 
ular. The strength within expresses itself, causing the change 
that is seen in plant or child. 

5. Growth depends on self-activity. Think how the 
body grows. Is it not by self-activity ? The simplest illustra- 
tion, perhaps, is that of the baby's kicking its legs. Prevent 



"CONSIDER HOW THEY GROW" u 

that, and the muscles will become weak and by and by all 
power will be gone; in other words, the life of the legs will 
be gone. Numerous illustrations from everyday life may be 
brought to mind of our using physical, mental, or moral 
strength and growing stronger thereby. "Nature develops all 
the powers of humanity by exercising them. They increase 
with use/' writes Pestalozzi. "Mamma always lets me do that 
my own self," came amid sobs of four-year-old Louise, as her 
aunt, in taking her mother's place one evening sought to help 
with the necessary bedtime preparations. A happy time had 
been suddenly changed to one of disappointment, because the 
little one was eager to do everything in her power and the aunt 
was too eager to assist — not realizing how much a four-year- 
old could do and would enjoy doing for herself. Twenty years 
have gone by, but the aunt, then a young kindergartner, has 
never forgotten one of the best lessons in child study that she 
ever learned. "Let me help, mother," is the constant demand 
of the ever-active child, and this is not so much because he 
wants to help as because he wants a part in the doing. A 
five-year-old was supremely happy for a half hour because he 
had his piece of dough and a corner of the bread board to 
make his "loaf" while his mother made hers. Look for in- 
stances of this desire to be self -active shown by children three 
to six years of age, and record them. Children develop by 
their self -activity. 

Can this desire to do things "my own self" and "to help" 
be met and made use of in Sunday school ? Later lessons will 
show ways in which this may be done. If a child's activity is 
used in a good way, it will not be exercised in a bad way. 

6. Growth is favored by right conditions. By right con- 
ditions we mean the right sort of environment. In thinking 
of a little child, environment must mean all that he comes in 
contact with; that which is immediately around him, both as 
to time and place, the things and the people in his home; and 
whatever he has to do with in nature. Note that it is said, 
"whatever he has to do with." There is much in general en- 
vironment that he does not come in contact with, and that is 



12 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

above and beyond his appreciation. If he goes to kindergarten 
and to Sunday school, these also form a part of his environ- 
ment. 

Right conditions are those helpful to right growth — those 
that will make a plant beautiful and strong, or, as we think 
of a child, those that will make him physically, mentally and 
morally strong. The work of the Sunday school teacher is to 
make such a religious environment that a pupil will grow 
morally and spiritually stronger week by week and year by 
year. "Go, wake the seeds of good that sleep throughout the 
world" (Browning), suggests the special work of the teacher 
of Beginners. The good is in the little child waiting to be 
waked up by the right environment. To environ — that is, to 
encircle, to encompass — is suggestive of what is to be done. 

7. Growth proceeds by absorption. A young life takes 
from what is around it. First, the child absorbs from his 
environment; then he projects himself into his environment. 
By and by he becomes aggressive, acting upon it, and stand- 
ing out more distinctively in the midst of it. Both the absorb- 
ing and the projecting take place during the years three to six. 
The aggressive phase comes later as the self develops. 

What do we mean by "absorption"? A great many impres- 
sions come by way of the senses of sight, touch, and hearing; 
they have been called "avenues" to the mind. Eyes and ears 
quickly take in what is seen and heard. Evidence of this is 
found in a child's imitation of the acts and words of those 
around him. Beyond this direct imitation of single acts or of 
many acts there is an unconscious and general influence of 
his environment upon him. For example, if he is in an orderly 
house, he is more apt to absorb orderliness, that is, to have an 
orderly spirit, and not to show an irritability and restlessness 
often noticeable when children are in a disorderly place. 
Again, a child when associated with persons of cheerful tem- 
perament is likely to grow bright and sunny-tempered. He 
absorbs their spirit. 

In absorbing, there is selection — an unconscious choice. 
Among the many things around him, a child takes one thing 



"CONSIDER HOW THEY GROW" 13 

in the sense of seeing, touching, hearing one thing rather 
than another, or more than another. In his choosing he "pro- 
jects'" himself and makes use of what is around him; that is, 
he touches two things, takes one to play with, and through 
playing discovers more than before; or, supposing he hears 
two songs; one of these he sings; he has not only absorbed 
by hearing, but by using the song he has projected himself 
and made it his own through singing it. As he becomes more 
"aggressive" he is more independent; in his play he combines 
things from out of his environment; he tells a story in his 
own way, he asserts himself over things, and tries to assert 
himself over people. As he realizes his power he becomes 
important in his own eyes, and "I did it," "Let me do that," 
are often heard. 

Since the young child inevitably selects and absorbs from 
his environment, it is well to have much in the environment 
that is good and beautiful from which he may select. 

"There was a child went forth every day, 

And the first object he looked upon, and received with wonder, 

pity, love or dread, 
That object he became. 
And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain 

part of the day, or for 
Many years, or stretching cycles of years. 
The early lilacs became part of this child, 
And grass, and white and red morning glories and white and 

red clover ; and the song of the phcebe bird, 
And the third-month lambs and the sow's pink-faint litter, 
And the mare's foal and the cow's calf, 
And the noisy brood of the barnyard, or by the mire of the 

pond side 
And the fish suspending themselves so curiously below there 

— and the beautiful curious liquid, 
And the water-plants with their graceful flat heads — all became 

part of him." (Walt Whitman.) 

8. Growth aided by struggle. In all growth there must 



14 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

be some struggle. An artificially perfect environment is not 
helpful because in it there is nothing left to do, no means by 
which the young spirit can grow, " let it lie/ the vigorous 
youngster exclaims to his father, who is about to roll a piece 
of wood out of the boy's way; 'Let it lie; I can get over it/ 
With difficulty, indeed, the boy gets over it the first time, but 
he has accomplished the feat by his own strength. Strength 
and courage have grown in him" (Froebel). Interest in effort 
and delight in overcoming are shown in the following illus- 
tration: "Herbert, aged four, was too fat to manage a certain 
gymnastic exercise with simple apparatus placed in the kinder- 
garten he attended. But he tried again and again, until the 
other day he let out a shout of triumph. 'I kin do it. Watch 
me !' " We need to remember, as Froebel says, that "As the 
plant grows through its own vital power, so also must human 
power become great through its own exercise and effort." 

9. The Sunday school and growth. What significance 
has the fact of growth for our Sunday school work with Be- 
ginners? In this lesson we have considered some of the 
fundamental principles which condition growth. Just as the 
gardener must provide right conditions for the blade and the 
ear which are to come, so also must the teacher provide right 
conditions for spiritual growth, and aid it by observing these 
fundamental principles by which all growth is conditioned. 

SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

Describe the characteristics of growth mentioned in this 
lesson. 

What law of growth did Jesus give us? (Mark 4. 28.) 

What is the first influence of environment upon a child? 

What is the second? The third? 

Write in your notebook any instances you can discover of 
the child's tendency to be self-active (observe children between 
three and six years of age). 



LESSON II 
PICTURES OF CHILD LIFE 

Sometimes a picture makes clear certain points in a study 
that a student might miss altogether if it were not for seeing 
the picture. Its mission is to illustrate, that is, to give luster 
or light on that which may have been dark or mysterious. The 
observation of children, as suggested in the previous lesson, is 
most necessary to an understanding of child life, and it is this 
understanding that guides a teacher in discerning what is 
needed for growth. But what to observe and how to observe 
are not always easily determined. The word pictures or con- 
crete illustrations given in this lesson are intended to help one 
to keen observation. These show tendencies that are common 
to all children, and that may be seen through their play, their 
actions, and their words at home and elsewhere. A child or 
a group of children on the street, in the home, or in the yard 
— anywhere — will reveal these and other tendencies to one who 
is seeking to learn what may be discovered. 

i. The child investigates. Watch a child and see how 
in the first five years of his life he is investigating by testing 
the qualities of things and experimenting with them, and how 
this investigation goes on through the senses of sight, touch, 
hearing, smell, and taste. Four-year-old Marion was visiting 
at an aunt's home the other day. For half an hour she sat on 
the floor perfectly absorbed with a little drawer in which were 
odds and ends that she could investigate; a tiny bottle with a 
stopper easily removed, a box of trinkets that could be ex- 
amined, a bag of spools of silk of varied colors. She was not 
only absorbed with her environment but absorbing from it, 
because she was gaining ideas of many things. In playing with 
things a child is learning chiefly through his senses of sight 
and of touch. A group of a dozen children, varying from 
three and one half to five and one half years, were seated for 

15 



16 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

the first time around a kindergarten table. They were each 
given one of the kindergarten boxes of blocks. The younger 
children occupied themselves turning the blocks in and out of 
the box, while the older ones at once set themselves to repre- 
senting the objects they had seen. What does this suggest to 
a teacher? 

The child is always eager to investigate. He wants to see 
into the closed box, to pull out what is inside. What is it? 
is his constant question. Curiosity is mental appetite; a hunger 
to see and to know. This investigating tendency comes before 
and with representing and imitating, for curiosity is fed in 
doing and being the thing in which a child is interested. He 
watches the occupations of father and mother and wishes to 
share them. A child's delight in having a piece of dough to 
make a loaf was referred to in the last lesson; not only can 
he be self-active with material so easy to use, but he can do 
what mother does, and herein lies the charm. To make bread 
"like mother" shows the tendency to imitate, first with "make- 
believe" and later with real materials and tools. First comes 
the play motion of sweeping, then the toy broom, and then 
a real one; first comes an imaginary pounding, then a little 
hammer, and then a large one. 

2. The child imitates. Children have a tendency to live 
the life around them so far as they can perceive it. Watch a 
little child for one day and see how many times he imitates, 
chiefly in the use of things and in ways of acting, but also in 
words and their application to special conditions. Tommie, 
on being called to come, quickly responded, "Fse sorry, but 
Fse busy just now." Only that morning his mother had said, 
"I am sorry, but I am too busy to come just now." A child 
develops through his power to imitate. What will be the prob- 
able result if there is opportunity for imitating good expres- 
sions in action or in word? To the extent that a child repre- 
sents anything, to that extent he becomes it for the time being. 
To him it is not "make-believe" but reality. He may be a per- 
son, a bird, a horse, or even a machine. One day "Billy" was 
a horse and as he pranced about the room, his father called 



PICTURES OF CHILD LIFE 17 

him by name, and the little fellow responded, "Don't call me 
Billy, call me Dick" (the name of a neighbor's horse). 

3. The child imagines. By means of his imagination the 
child clothes things with life. A stick is a horse on which the 
boy rides ; a cloth or shawl rolled up with a ribbon around "the 
neck" serves the girl for a doll. From two and a half to four 
and a half years of age one little girl was not happy without 
having in bed with her the top part of a bedstead post which 
to her was "dear dolly." Suddenly one day she threw it 
across the room, exclaiming, " 'Tisn't dolly — it's a piece of 
wood!" The fancy or "make-believe" associated with things 
lasts longer with some children than with others, but when 
things are no longer personified with life, imaginary plays and 
mental pictures in the realm of fancy continue. Think of 
plays in which the imagination is active. If these are not 
familiar, it will be helpful to watch little children at play. 

4, The child fears and easily believes. The imaginative 
tendency is often associated with two other tendencies evident 
in varying degrees and at different ages in different children; 
a tendency to fear and a tendency toward the mystical or, we 
may say, an interest in the mysterious. Who does not know 
of a child's being afraid of the dark, or of persons, or of 
animals? The little Louise who was eager to "do it my own 
self" (referred to in the first lesson) was heard to call night 
after night, when left in bed in the dark, "Mamma, doggie is 
here, doggie is in the room; please come take doggie away." 
This particular form of fear was induced, unfortunately, by 
a maid's story of dogs. 

Confidence in a protecting power needs to be cultivated in 
connection with a feeling of mystery and wonder that is often 
mixed with faith. Fear has its good, it serves as a safeguard, 
but in a terrifying extreme it should be overcome by those who 
are helping and guiding a child. This becomes possible be- 
cause a little one is naturally confiding and full of faith, and 
while he is imaginative, he also takes a thing just as it is told 
to him and believes what is said. It will be seen later that 
this has both advantages and disadvantages in training him. 



i8 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

The faith of a young child not only includes trust and self- 
belief but a reaching out to the unseen. To help the young 
child reach out and find God is one purpose of the Beginners' 
teacher. 

Madeline, not quite six years of age, of poetic and sensitive 
temperament, an artist in the making, whispered to her 
kindergarten teacher one day, "I have seen the fairies in the 
wood; won't you come to see them too?" Wonderingly, her 
companion went with the little girl through a stretch of wood, 
till they came to a parting of the ways. There was a beauti- 
ful expectancy in her looks and withal a mysterious quietness 
of manner. "This is the way," said she, and on they went to 
a secluded nook. Without a word she looked about, an ex- 
pression of disappointment crept into her face, and with quiv- 
ering lips she said, "Why ! they are not here to-day !" 

The recognition of these and other easily observed ten- 
dencies of young children, and a knowledge of how to make 
use of them, is necessary in order that the teacher may effec- 
tively minister to the spiritual growth of young children. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

Make a list of the five tendencies pictured here. 
Tell what kind of things children like to do as suggested in 
the lesson. 

What is curiosity? 

What is the value of investigation? 

What are some results of the imitative tendency? 



LESSON III 
SOME MEANINGS AND USES OF PLAY 

Play is life to a child under six years of age. Without 
knowing his play we cannot understand him. It reveals the 
child to us. There is a meaning in his play for himself, in 
that through it he learns and grows. But we cannot dwell on 
that meaning in this lesson ; the purpose is to see what his play 
teaches us about him. 

i. Three children at play. To be sure of actual con- 
ditions and to show what may be rightly said of a child of this 
age, three days of play are reported. These need to be care- 
fully studied in relation to what the children chose to do. 



Richard's Day 
A real day of a real boy, aged five, and living in the country. 



Time Events 



7 a. m. Got up singing and con- 
tinued to sing while 
he dressed himself. 



Comments (in relation to 
these plays and apply- 
ing to all children of 
this age) 

a. Joyous expression. 

b. Doing for himself. 



After 
Breakfast 



He and Sister Barbara 
(aged three) played 
with large * 'paper 
dolls" (really card- 
board, of baby size, 
with clothes to put 
on and off). 



19 ' 



a. Desire to "live over" 
life at home. 

6. Boy cares for dolls (ex- 
cept when ridiculed, 
in this case by cousin 
whose parents have 
inculcated the notion 
of unmanliness). 

c. Parental instinct as true 
in boys as girls if not 
crushed out. 



20 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 



845 Went to woods to play 

in "camp" that father 
made for him out of 
pine boughs. 



a. Desire to represent 

home life on simpler 
scale than house of- 
fers. 

b. Interest in nature. 

c. Interest in construction 
(just beginning). 



9:15 Returned for Barbara. Desire for companionship. 



10:15 Brought Barbara home 

from "camp," took 
his cart and went to 
pine grove for chips 
for kindling. 



Play for a purpose, just 
showing itself at five 
years. (Work is any- 
thing done for a result; 
here is a mixture: the 
doing for the fun of it — 
play; the doing for what 
comes from it — work.) 



11:00 Went with Grandma 

"down street" to get 
potatoes. 



Same as above (chips for 
kindling; going for po- 
tatoes), with the inter- 
est of going somewhere 
with some one. 



12:00 



Made mud pies. 



Easy medium for represen- 
tation and construction. 



After Playing in barn with 

Dinner neighbor. More play- 

ing with cart and in 
mud. 



Repetition. 



4:00 Had to stay on couch 

because of quarreling. 
Played "bo mb," 
"pendulum" and 
"fish" with rope tied 
to soft ball. 



a. Selfishly overriding sis- 

ter, teasing, etc. 

b. Imitating: representing 

things of motion (ac- 
tion). 
c. Imagination. 



After Undressed himself; 

Supper teased Grandma to 

read a story, which 
she did. When in 
bed he and Barbara 
talked for "one solid 
hour." 



a. Eager for story. 

b. Eager for expression. 



Note. — Comment of mother: "I have not told him to do a 
thing; we never have time to superintend his play." 



SOME MEANINGS AND USES OF PLAY 



21 



Philip's Day 
Philip is not far from six years old. 

7 — 7:30 "Raising Cain" — in bed. 
7:30 — 8:00 Getting dressed. 

8 :oo Breakfast. 

9:00 Went on errand for mother. 

9:10 — 10:00 Made sand pies in the cellar. 
10:00 — 11:00 Expressed desire to go out of doors to play; 
changed mind and cleaned up woodbox in 
kitchen. 
Played with wheel-barrow. 
Brought in wood from shed to kitchen. 
1 1 :oo — 1 1 :20 Watched mother cook. 
1 1 :20 — 1 1 45 Played in play-room upstairs. 
11:45 — 12:00 Set table for lunch and other little things to 

help mother. 
12:00 — 1:00 Lunch. 

1:00 — 1:30 Had a "rough-tumble" time on couch after 
lunch; didn't know what to do with himself; 
kicked his feet high in the air; threw himself 
up and down on the couch; pounded pillows 
and finally decided he wanted to go out of 
doors to play. 
1 :30 — 2:00 Wanted overshoes on; when out of doors started 

to bring in some wood. 
2:00 — 3:00 Played with his new Christmas horse and 
wagon; carried blocks from one room to 
another and built block houses. 
3:00 — 5:00 When Naomi (slightly older sister) came home 
from school, wanted to go out of doors to 
play with her. 
Played out until supper time. 



Half the time he is singing to himself ; the other half he is 
teasing some one to read one of his favorite books to him. 
Beatrice Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit is one of these, 
Many times a day he says, "Won't you please read this to me 
when you've finished that?" 

Compare these doings with those of Richard. What is 
more evident or less so, as regards activity, imagination, imi- 
tation, and representation? What similar interests are evi- 
dent? Are there any more illustrations of "living over" in 



22 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

play the life of the home? Any evidence of passing from 
simply imitative plays to real activities for a purpose? 

Dorothy's Day 
Dorothy is four years old. 

After breakfast she played with pad and pencil. Then, 
watching her mother prepare for baking, she also had bread 
dough which she molded and played at baking. After tiring 
of this she dusted the furniture. Shortly afterward, other 
children came in and all played tea party, in which small dishes 
were used. After dinner she skipped about to the music of a 
victrola. She is very active and always ready to skip and 
dance to music. She would have the victrola playing all the 
time, if it were permitted. She is also fond of singing and 
memorizes words and tunes. Later, she and her sister Kather- 
ine, seven years old, looked at a dictionary which has illustra- 
tions. Her favorite play is with dolls and doll carriage, in 
which she talks to her dolls as her mother talks to her. Our 
observation of her proves to us conclusively that she imitates, 
in so far as she is able, all of the things done by her mother 
and sister. 

2. The teacher's use of play in Sunday school. It is 
often said, and truly, that because the life of a little child is a 
play life, the Sunday school should be a place of play. But 
that does not necessarily mean that it should be just like the 
week-day kindergarten nor have plays like those at home. 

In studying the play of little children we discover certain 
characteristics that should be heeded on Sunday. First, the 
younger a child is, the more he turns to a variety of occupa- 
tions. He is, we say, changeable; he does not attend to any- 
thing very long, even of his own choosing, and we find he has 
not the power to concentrate his interests. It is to be noted 
that he frequently goes back to the same play, repeating it 
many times even in one day, and every time he turns to it 
voluntarily his interest deepens in it. Consequently, both in 
arranging the Beginners' Program and in teaching a given 
lesson we should make provision for variety and repetition. 



SOME MEANINGS AND USES OF PLAY 23 

A young child is impulsive, "acting on the moment." Watch 
him with his blocks ; he builds and knocks them down. When 
somewhat older he completes his building, but quickly changes 
it to something else. When still older, at about five or six 
years of age, he begins to use the completed building; that is, 
he has a purpose in the making, and uses it when it is made. 
When this characteristic becomes manifest it is time to plan 
for purposeful occupation. Before this, it is sufficient to let 
him do things for the unconscious values which attach to the 
doing. Now, at special seasons, such as Thanksgiving, Christ- 
mas, and Easter, the teacher should provide opportunities 
for the making of simple gifts for others. 

During the earlier years, at three or four, and sometimes 
even at five, the child's play is immediate, just for the pres- 
ent, so what is then done within the Sunday school must have 
a present value for him. It should be an enjoyable occupation. 
To the child it may seem to be done merely for the sake of 
the doing. He knows nothing of its purpose. He takes part 
in it for the sake of getting the experience. But while it is 
play to him, it is nevertheless of religious value. This the 
teacher should understand. She should work purposefully, 
realizing its values in the child's spiritual development. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

Make a chart of Philip's day on a similar plan to that made 
of Richard's day, giving comments on his play. 

Study Dorothy's occupations and note whether they show 
similar tendencies to those of the boys. If so, make a note of 
them. 

What have you learned about child life in studying the plays 
of these three children? 

What else have you learned from original observations of 
children in play? 

Note some practical suggestions concerning the use of play 
in Sunday school. 

What additional suggestions can you make concerning the 
use of play in Sunday school? 



LESSON IV 
THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF A LITTLE CHILD 

Every little child has religious tendencies. His religion 
is only in its beginnings. It is so unlike what we adults often 
think of as religion that some may fail to recognize it as such. 
But when we study the little child we find he has charac- 
teristics which are a part of all religious life. 

i. The dependence and trust of the little child. From 
his earliest days a child turns for protection, for help, and 
for satisfaction to some one greater and more able than 
himself. If he hurts himself, he runs to mother; if he is 
afraid, he clings to her, and mother soothes and comforts him. 
If father carries the little fellow over what to him is a strange 
way, he feels perfectly safe, and the arms go around father's 
neck, with satisfaction in the strength of one bigger than him- 
self. In the same way, when questioning begins, he turns to 
father and mother, believing that they can satisfy and tell him 
what he is eager to know. The sense of dependence, though 
it may not be consciously realized, develops into a trust in the 
one who gives the needed shelter and comfort and help. 
Through this sense of dependence children are led to trust 
the heavenly Father. 

Look again at the young child : he is running over with 
joy; constantly he manifests it in his play. It is indicative 
of that love of life which is the essence of religious aspira- 
tion and hope. The joy of little children is a part of their 
religious life. 

Write in your notebook any ways that occur to you by 
which a teacher of Beginners din make use of this sense of 
dependence, this trust, and this joy to make more real the 
beginnings of the religious life. Different ways will be illus- 
trated in several of the following lessons. You may later 
compare your own notes with the statements of the textbook. 

25 



26 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

2. The little child's hungers. Once more, we find the |/ 
little child hungry with many kinds of hunger. He is hungry 
to know; that is the instinct or the hunger of curiosity, and 
he is, therefore, questioning, saying, "What is this?" or "What 
is that ?" He is hungry for cooperation and companionship : 
note his delight in somebody's playing with him. He is hun- 
gry for love and sympathy. Johnnie hurt his finger and ran 
to his father; the busy man responded, "I can't help it," and 
the little fellow said, "But you might say, 'O.' " We often 
speak of the faith of a little child and most commonly think 
of that confiding trust that is so often manifest, or of the 
credulity that believes so readily : these are two phases of faith. 
There is also a hunger of faith that reaches for something 
beyond oneself. A young child is seeking, seeking, seeking. 
Professor Sully has called him "a serious searcher" and says : 
"The world, to him, is a sort of big house where everything 
has been made by somebody, or at least fetched from some- 
where." And this seeking leads to a faith in the Unseen, to the 
making real of the unreal by means of an active imagination. 
These hungers also are the beginning of religious life in the 
little child. Religion is not something simply to be taught: it 
grows from within. Religious life is living day by day, pro- 
gressing, moving forward. 

3. Good and evil tendencies. In every little child there 
are tendencies to good and tendencies to evil. No one is alto- 
gether good nor altogether bad. There is a religious impulse 
in every child that may grow into right desire or may be un- 
developed and die out. In speaking of little children Jesus 
said, "Of such is the kingdom of God." Did he mean simply 
that there were such in heaven? Rather, he meant that little 
children really belong to the Kingdom. Dr. Coe calls atten- 
tion to the fact that the word used in the original language 
indicates possession, and adds : "There is a distinction between 
the state of little children and that of mature and willful 
sinners. The latter must repent and be converted ; but children, 
already possessing the life principle of the Kingdom, require 
spiritual development. That is, every child is God's child and 



RELIGIOUS LIFE OF A LITTLE CHILD 27 

has a tendency to grow more and more like him if trained in 
the right way. Good and evil impulses mix in every child, 
yet not good and evil in any complete sense. Greed and anger 
that would be reprehensible in us bear no such character in an 
infant." " 'No such character' " ; that is precisely it. Character 
is a confirmed habit of moral choice, and this the young child 
has not yet attained. He is neither good nor bad, he is merely 
becoming one or the other. Some of his impulses, if they 
grow unchecked and unregulated, will issue in bad character; 
others, if they grow symmetrically, will result in good char- 
acter. 

4, Religious life depends on nurture. "He is becoming 
one or the other." Here is the great opportunity for teachers. 
The religious life depends on nurture. It must be tended, 
nourished, guided. Seeds of sympathy, kindness, and affection 
spring up very early, but these depend for growth on a right 
environment. Said Froebel, "Faith in God is innate in every 
child ; it has only to be awakened in the right way, but it must 
be awakened or it remains dead." Bushnell has said, "A child 
should grow up a Christian and never know himself other- 
wise." This is not possible without nurture. But with the 
right kind of care from the beginning, it is most likely. 
Failure is due to a lack of understanding and of nurture on 
the part of parents and teachers. An illustration will show the 
effect of nurture : Tony stood at the door of a mission kinder- 
garten of Bohemian children. There was no place for another 
child and she could not be invited in. But the sunshine of the 
kindergarten had its attracting power, and morning after 
morning saw Tony waiting and watching. The face of the 
child, on which was a miserable — yes, awful — scowl telling of 
unhappiness and anger, rarely to be seen even on the face of 
an adult, together with the persistence of its owner, made an 
unusual situation and a "place for one more" was found. For 
weeks Tony sat in that "sunshine" of order, gentleness, and 
happiness, refusing to do anything, pushing away every offer 
of help from teachers and children. When the latter spoke to 
her in the language she understood, there was no response 



28 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

except an angry movement. Still Tony came, and occupations 
were placed before her. Suddenly, one day she picked up a 
sewing card and needle. The whole story cannot be told, but 
gradually she joined in play and work, and — one day a smile 
came. Five months went by and Tony was the most polite, the 
sweetest and gentlest of the kindergarten group ; she was the 
favorite of all and a little mother to the younger ones. And 
the scowl was gone. The hard, unnatural covering had been 
broken through, the seed had been nurtured and a beautiful 
blossom had come ! It was Tony who said, when the children 
were on a train going for a picnic, "O, Miss Helen, I wish I 
could sit on the grass all day." 

The influence of a Beginners' Department should be, and 
in many instances is, similar to that of Tony's kindergarten. 
Changes that are a result of training in either place can be 
most plainly seen through extreme cases. In Sunday school 
they are proportionately slower and less discernible than in 
kindergarten because of the difference in time and opportunity. 
But a brief story of "Mike" will show that the same training 
is possible there. This rough little fellow had seen more of 
the dark side of life in the first five years than do most chil- 
dren. When he was brought into the Beginners' Department 
one Sunday he was dirty and uncouth. The first thing neces- 
sary was to wash his face and hands. He was asked to come 
the next Sunday clean and with brushed hair. But wken he 
showed his face at the door the following week there was no 
less dirt. The teacher welcomed him, glad that he had cared 
to come again, and the necessary "first thing" was repeated. 
A note to the mother brought a slight improvement the next 
time, but for some weeks Mike's condition varied, until one 
Sunday he came so dirty that the teacher told him he could not 
sit with the other children and she could not keep on taking 
time to clean him. This made an impression. At the end of 
six months the old Mike could hardly have been found. The 
outer cleanliness was a sign too of an inner change. Mike 
was the opposite of Tony in that on the first day he was active, 
but the activity was a hindrance to the other children and of 



RELIGIOUS LIFE OF A LITTLE CHILD 29 

little good to himself : he was noisy, irresponsible, mean in his 
mischief, and disobedient; often he had to leave the circle, and 
once he had to sit outside the room for punishment The first 
real interest he showed was in the picture of a dog who had 
helped its master, and in the story of a boy's help to the dog 
when it was lamed. Weeks went by and Mike's actions showed 
little change, but one Sunday, after repeated lessons on being 
kind, he came bringing a box to the teacher. Inside was found 
an injured sparrow, and the child who had been rough and 
mean said, "Can't y'er make it well?" Pity, sympathy, and 
gentleness had been awakened! Another Sunday came, and 
Mike was heard to say, "Sure, I does now what the piano says 
to do." Perhaps the way might be long between obeying the 
call of the piano and the commands of God, but a beginning 
had been made. 

We need to think of what results from the failure to culti- 
vate right feelings and of the danger of not conserving emo- 
tions of tenderness and sympathy. In a sermon on the 
hardening of the heart, and with a reference to the awful 
cruelties perpetrated by the Turks in the Great War, Dr. 
William C. Gordon strikingly says : "Who are the men who 
are responsible for these worse than fiendish deeds? How 
are such acts possible to creatures in human form ? I suppose 
that if you and I, years ago, could have stood by these men 
when they were infants and looked into their innocent faces, 
they would have seemed to us just like other children of the 
same age. We should not have seen in them any unusual 
marks of depravity. We should not have noted in those baby 
faces any prophecy of the crimes with which their hands have 
been stained in these later years. As babies they smiled and 
cried, and cooed and chuckled, just like other children. They 
had in them the same possibilities of good and evil. The ex- 
planation of the deeds at which our souls revolt is not found in 
the infant face. Somewhere between infancy and manhood 
there is an explanation of this awful change. As they passed 
down through the years from boyhood to youth and manhood 
there was an exclusion of the influences that purify and 



30 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

ennoble and redeem the life, there was a hardening of the 
hearts of those who had in them the same possibilities of good 
and evil which we and all men possess." 

Think again : "A child should grow up a Christian and never 
know himself otherwise" — a Christian from the beginning, but 
not a mature Christian; the two are so different. Think of 
what one should be as compared with the other. At first the 
difference seems only one of degree, as we think of reverence, 
love, trust, right living, a quantitative difference. But, look- 
ing a little deeper, we may see that as in combining different 
quantities of material things, a different quality results, so in 
things spiritual the combining of different degrees will make a 
qualitative difference. The boy is not a miniature man; the 
Christian child is not a miniature Christian; he is a Christian 
in the making. Note the word "grow." The religious life 
grows as all other life grows — by activity and nourishment. 
There must be right conditions, food, and action. It was not 
until Tony responded and did something that any change 
came. In Sunday school we must provide opportunities for 
children to do what is right, to obey, to show care for others, 
each to take care of himself, to be helpful. Various ways of 
doing this are shown in the later studies. We must also satisfy 
their sense of need and dependence by a connection with and 
a joy in the loving heavenly Father. How this may be begun 
will be suggested in the next lesson. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

Write down in your notebook the different characteristics 
mentioned of the beginning of the religious life of a little child. 

As regards goodness and badness, what is true of every 
child? 

Write down the words of Bushnell as given in the lesson. 

On what does this condition (referred to by him) depend? 

For what changes should a teacher of Beginners look? 



LESSON V 
HOW TO FIRST TEACH ABOUT GOD AND JESUS 

How shall we first teach a child about God? Let us assume 
that as yet he knows nothing of God. He is to be brought 
naturally and definitely into relation with him. 

i. God as Heavenly Father. The little child's first knowl- 
edge of love and care and strength comes through his expe- 
rience with father and mother. It is because of their love that 
he loves. In this little soul is the possibility of response to 
their expression of affection. Unconsciously he realizes their 
love by what they do. The earthly father is the embodiment 
of strength and the mother of tenderness to the little one, 
and in them he finds protection, sympathy, and wisdom. The 
combined authority and love are often a child's first God. 
This may be realized by the words of one little fellow who 
said, "I do not need to pray to-night. Father is going to sleep 
with me." And by the prayer of another : "You need not be 
here to-night. Mother has come back." Therefore it is 
through father and mother love that we may bring God near 
to the understanding of a little child. Through his relation to 
father and mother we may teach him of God as heavenly 
Father. We cannot make him love God. We can only inspire 
him with a desire to love. Sometimes children are told 
that "we ought to love God." That may be true, but no 
"ought" will awaken such a feeling. Accordingly, in our les- 
sons we teach the child of the heavenly Father's love and care. 

2. God as the Giver of good gifts. One of the little 
child's interests is in nature. A recognition of the invisible 
comes through the visible. Wonder, reverence, and gratitude 
may be aroused for the beautiful things all around him — the 
sunbeam dancing on the wall, the sprouting acorn, the lovely 
dress of the baby flower, and the colored stone picked up on 
the street. We direct his attention to these and other things 

3i 



32 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

and say, "A great good Father gives us all these things to 
make us glad. They are his good gifts to us." Then we teach 
him, "Every good gift cometh from the Father" ; "Give thanks 
unto the Lord (or Father), for he is good." 

Children's imagination and credulity lead them to believe in 
the unseen, as we have found. They accept with a faith that is 
often more real than that of older persons. A suggestion may 
lead farther than we think, for 

"Theirs is the language of the heavens, the power, 
The thought, the image, and the silent joy; 
Words are but underagents in their souls ; 
When they are grasping with their greatest strength 
They do not breathe among them." 

(Wordsworth.) 

So let us not lay too much stress on the necessity of their 
talking about God. Little children have not yet learned how 
to use words as an apt expression of their inner life, and yet 
they are near to God. Wordsworth gives us a thought of a 
child's nearness to God, as he says in speaking to him: 

"If thou appearest untouched by solemn thought, 
Thy nature is not therefore less divine. 
Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year, 
And worshipest at the temple's inner shrine, 
Go d being with thee when we know it not" 

What do the references to "Abraham's bosom" and the 
"temple's inner shrine" signify? 

One of the best ways to lead to a recognition of God, and 
to calm a child's fear of the darkness, is to suggest God's 
watchful care. The following lines bring this thought very 
beautifully. 

"Sleep sweetly, birdie, never fear, 
For God is always watching near. 
And you, dear friendly world above; 
The same One holds us in his love, 



TO FIRST TEACH ABOUT GOD AND JESUS 33 

Both you so great and I so small 
Are safe — He sees the sparrow's fall, 
The dear God watches over all." 
(Last lines of "The Child and the World," In the 
Story Hour, by K. D. Wiggin.) 

How, then, shall we first teach about God? We may sum- 
marize what we have said above in this way: We may teach 
of the heavenly Father's love through lessons showing par- 
ental love and care and through securing from the child a 
recognition and response. This makes God's fatherhood very 
real to him. It is important whenever we speak of God to 
refer to him in a natural way as our great, good Father. It 
is, of course, of first importance that God shall seem near 
and real to the teacher, that she shall recognize his presence 
by her spirit of reverence and by acts of devotion, and that 
she shall recognize also that for the little child words about 
God are not so important as a feeling of his presence. 

3. Jesus as God's Son. Children are often confused as 
they first hear of God and Jesus. Unnecessary difficulties are 
raised in their little minds. It was only the other day that a 
child said, "Mother, are there two Gods?" and the mother 
seemed puzzled to know what to say. When a teacher of 
Beginners took a new class she found by their answers that 
there was small distinction in their minds between God and 
Jesus, and even between these and Abraham and Moses ! 
They were all good men and "in the Bible." Stories and char- 
acters had been presented in such a way that no wonder the 
little ones were confused. A distinction may be emphasized by 
telling of the great Father before any mention is made of 
Jesus Christ. 

If a child has come to know something of God as the Father 
of all, it is most simple to tell, at an opportune time, how the 
Father in heaven wanted to let every one know that he loved 
them. He wanted to tell them what he would like them to be 
and do, and to send some one to help all his children. So he 
sent his own Son, who was so like his Father that people knew 



34 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

more about the Father's love than they had ever known before. 
At another time we might tell how Jesus, for that was the 
name God gave to his Son, came as a little baby on the first 
Christmas day. He came to the house of a dear good mother 
who was called Mary, and grew up as her little boy. When 
people saw this baby they knew how beautiful and loving all 
babies might be. They were so happy that Jesus had come 
that they said to each other, "A loving child is on the earth." 
When he grew to be a boy, and later to be a strong man, he 
went about doing good. People looked at his face and they 
learned of God's love. They heard him talking and they found 
out what the Father above wanted them to do. On another 
day it will be very natural to tell how Jesus called little chil- 
dren to him, how the mothers crowded round him with their 
babies in their arms, and some of his friends thought the chil- 
dren would bother him. But Jesus saw them and said, "Let the 
little children come." Later on, other stories of what Jesus 
did and said will show how he came to be the Saviour of all. 
It will be well to remember that Jesus himself told us to pray 
to the Father, and that nowhere in the Bible are we told to 
pray to Jesus, but to "ask in his name." If this distinction is 
made it will be a help in our first teaching of God and of 
Jesus. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

How does a child first experience love and care? 

What is the best way to help little children to a real feeling 
of God? 

How may a distinction be made in first teaching of God and 
Jesus? 

How shall we first acquaint the children with Jesus? 



LESSON VI 
THE FIRST RELIGIOUS TRAINING 

Can a four-year-old be trained in reverence, gratitude, and 
obedience? Are these too large words to use in relation to 
him? 

Have you seen Tommie look up to the stars and "wonder 
what they are" as he listens to the story of the Song of the 
Stars? or have you watched a boy like Robert as he saw the 
blue stone crystals clinging to a string (which string he had 
seen set in a jar of a solution of blue stone the day before) 
and heard him whisper, "How did they get up there?" And 
have you ever noticed three-year-old Alice tenderly holding 
"a baby" that was only a sprouting seed? There was wonder 
in those faces — and something more. There was mystery 
— and something more. It was almost adoration. And these 
are all parts of the flower of reverence. It is well for children 
to feel some things and not to understand. There may be a 
feeling, an appreciation, before there is an intellectual compre- 
hension. Also, it is quite possible to be reverent without being 
solemn — that is not natural to little children. 

i. First steps in reverence. If there is to be reverence 
by and by in the full sense of the word, there must be respect 
for things now. To let a child ruthlessly destroy anything — 
that is, for example, to tear a flower to pieces — is to lose an 
opportunity for cultivating the seed of reverence, if not pos- 
itively to inculcate irreverence. Who can think of a reverent 
character in adult life which is also destructive? To train to 
a careful handling will tend to bring out a reverent feeling and 
attitude. Little beginnings are responsible for the great results 
of the future. "Oaks from little acorns grow." Mary, aged 
four, was in an atmosphere of respect, for every one in her 
home gave grandma the first or the best place, because she was 

35 



2,6 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

grandma. It was beautiful to see this little girl run to open 
the door, or stand aside to "let grandma get in to the carriage 
first." Reverence for the aged is sometimes missing at fifteen, 
because it has been passed by at five. 

In an earlier lesson it was said, "Fear has its good." It is in 
this way. It is well for children to bow down to some one. 
"Love has not only cast out fear, but also reverence, venera- 
tion, and even respect/' because the casting out of fear has 
gone to the extreme. Fear is one of the instincts implanted in 
every human spirit. To some degree it is necessary for safe- 
guarding life; for a child to fear fire is a good thing; beyond 
that it may prove harmful or helpful ; that depends on whether 
fear is changed to terror or to reverence. Teachers may help 
to overcome unnecessary and hurtful fear through the telling 
of a story showing protection or one showing confidence, also 
by an attitude of trust incidentally shown and in the praying 
of a prayer such as the following : 

"Be near us, our Father ; we ask thee to stay 
Close by us forever, and help us, we pray ; 
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care, 
And fit us for heaven to live with thee there." 

They may encourage fear that is wholesome by their own 
reverent way with things and persons, and by such training as 
that suggested above. 

2. First steps in gratitude. Appreciation of something 
nice given by some one is the beginning of a grateful feeling. 
Children quickly respond to the idea that is back of "Thank 
you," if it is associated with a thing given. But there is no 
use in telling them that "we ought to be thankful" or that "we 
should thank God" without arousing a feeling of gladness in 
his kindness and goodness that will lead them to want to say 
"Thank you." Then the act of giving thanks will deepen the 
feeling of appreciation. In first cultivating this feeling it is 
best to begin in relation to father and mother and the good 
things at home. Objects from home and conversation about 



THE FIRST RELIGIOUS TRAINING 37 

these will open the way, 1 and verses like the following will be 
helpful : 

''Loving mother, kind and true; 

Busy father, he works too, 

Earns the money for our clothes, 

Buys the goods that mother sews. 

Mother gives her daily care 

Washing faces, combing hair, 

Darning stockings, patching too, 

Many things for me, for you. 

"Father's money buys our food, 
Mother cooks it sweet and good. 
They both work from morn till night 
Just to keep our homes so bright, 
Just to give us daily bread, 
Nice warm lire and restful bed. 
When we grow up tall and strong, 
We can then help them along." 2 

It is quite natural and easy to pass from the help and the gifts 
of father and mother to those of the heavenly Father. There 
are some things that father and mother cannot give. One 
mother made her little one conscious of the "great, good 
Friend in the skies" by reference every now and then to things 
he had given, as for instance, "I am glad you have such sharp 
eyes — the Good Friend gave them to you"; and before teach- 
ing any prayer she sought for some spontaneous expression. 
One day, after a few words of this kind, the little fellow ran 
to the window and she heard him say, "I thank you, Good 
Friend." Incidental references in Sunday school are often 
worth more in the training of a grateful feeling than any 
direct lesson or story. The spirit (not the words) of the fol- 
lowing lines may be developed both for overcoming trouble- 
some fear and for making the little ones glad: 

1 See Object Lessons for The Cradle Roll, by Frances W. Danielson. 
*" * Tune may be found in Songs and Hymns for the Sunday School. (Clayton 
F. Summy Co.) Price 25 cents. 



38 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

"Like a cradle rocking, rocking, 

Silent, peaceful, to and fro, 
Like a mother's sweet looks dropping 

On the little face below, 
Hangs the green earth, swinging, turning, 

Jarless, noiseless, safe and slow; 
Falls the light of God's face bending 

Down and watching us below." 

Children and young people of to-day often seem lacking in a 
warm appreciative sense that leads to gratitude. But the 
beauty of this characteristic cannot be overestimated. A 
picture comes to mind of a dear old grandmother as she sat 
at her window, crippled and almost blind. Her face with its 
furrows told of storms and struggles passed and over all shone 
the sunlight of contentment. Every one who saw this face 
spoke of its beauty and its cheer. Those who were nearest to 
her knew something of the secret of its gladness and its peace. 
She had gained a grateful spirit that was very rare. The 
slightest token of friendly love was received with a "You do 
too much for me," or "It is very good of you," and the small' 
est service rendered was always met with "Thank-y dear." 
The one hundred and third psalm seemed personified in her; 
she enacted it day by day. Of course such a spirit grows out 
of the experience of the years; it is the ripened fruit, but the 
seed in the hearts of little children must be cared for so that 
there may be fruitage by and by. Froebel tell us that the seed 
of gratitude will be awakened by training the child in giving 
care. Only thus will he appreciate the care given to him. "To 
care for things is to become careful, to tend things is to grow 
tender," says Drummond. "Likewise, to do deeds which merit 
gratitude is the way to learn to be grateful," says Susan Blow. 
Is there any way in Sunday school in which little children may 
show care and deserve a "Thank-you"? This seed will be 
nourished also through the cultivation of this spirit in our- 
selves : the teacher who has a joyous grateful feeling will influ- 
ence the children till such feeling stirs in them. 



THE FIRST RELIGIOUS TRAINING 39 

3. First steps in obedience. Religious training must also 
provide first steps in obedience. This may be done through 
the cultivation of an obedient way of doing things, a willing 
yielding to what we all do. "The clock says come," and we 
all come; "the clock says stop" and we all stop. Is not obe- 
dience suggested in 

"Swing, swong! this is the way 
Goes the pendulum night and day. 
Tick! tock! tick! took!' 
Never resting, says the clock; 
Time for work and time for fun. 
Time to sleep when day is done. 
Tick! tockP Hear the clock! 
Time to rest each little head ; 
Time the children were in bed/ 

"Swing, swong! sure and slow 
Goes the pendulum to and fro. 
Tick ! tock ! tick ! tock !' 
In the morning says the clock: 
Time to wake from slumber sweet, 
Time to wash and time to eat. 
Tick ! tock !' Hear the clock 
Tick, tock, tock,' it cries, 
'Children, it is time to rise V " 

(Emily Huntington Miller.) 

Order is "Heaven's first law" ; it is obedience — the fulfilling of 
rules. "A willingness to abide by rules is the first, the indis- 
pensable condition of moral growth. Now the habit of yield- 
ing to rules may be implanted in a child even in the cradle" 
(Felix Adler). 

4. Roots of Christian living. Why in treating of first 
religious training do we think especially of the cultivation of 
reverence, gratitude, and obedience? They are foundation 
stones, or, better still, roots of Christian living; they are 



4 o THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

virtues from which others spring. Without them there can be 
no religious life. Can we imagine a religious person who is 
irreverent, or a Christian who is unthankful? Love is the 
center of all Christian life, and out of gratitude and rever- 
ence come love and devotion. 

5. Moral training in the Sunday school. This training, 
which should be begun in the home, is to be continued in the 
Sunday school. The teacher of Beginners in Sunday school 
has a great opportunity to supplement the training of the 
home. This is not only her opportunity; it is her business. 
For the sake of training in obedience she will practice orderli- 
ness and promptness with the children. She will seek will- 
ing, happy fulfillment of what she herself thinks of as a few 
rules for the best interests of the group, and which the children 
think of as "things which we all do." For it is more import- 
ant to gain a spirit of obedience than it is to teach any words 
about obeying — even obeying God. She will not, therefore, 
pass by direct disobedience unnoticed and allow it to continue. 
In order to cultivate reverence the teacher of Beginners will 
have the little ones careful in handling things; natural objects 
such as plants and flowers, seeds and shells, and the Bible. 
She will be herself reverent in action. Reverence in prayer 
and in song will be sought in ways that will be shown in later 
lessons. Stories will also be found in which there is readiness 
to obey and a glad spirit of thanksgiving. The teacher will 
lead the children to express thanks as occasions arise calling 
for such expression. We shall see too that through observa- 
tions of nature they may be trained to obedience, reverence, 
and gratitude. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

How would you, as a teacher, first train in reverence ? 
What is the first thing to do in developing gratitude? 
Name a first step toward a habit of obedience. 
Why should a teacher of Beginners seek to develop these 
three virtues? 



LESSON VII 
THE MOTHERLY TEACHER 

"I forget and call you mamma," said a little girl to her 
teacher one day, as in kindergarten she asked, "Mamma, may 
I do that?" What higher compliment could be given? Per- 
haps it came simply from force of habit, but the "forgetting" 
would hardly have come if there had not been some motherly 
characteristic unconsciously felt. A small boy struck the key- 
note when — at another time — he said: "Wasn't it funny, I 
called you mother? But you act like it anyhow." There was 
not an exact likeness in the little fellow's mind, but a recogni- 
tion of similar qualities. "Like it" instead of her, perhaps 
meant a mother. The words "teacher," "class," "school" 
might be well banished from the Beginners' Department. 
Think of the children as forming a family group, with one 
guiding them who is like a mother. The very word we use, 
"kindergarten" — "child garden" — has in it a beautiful sug- 
gestion, and a child-gardener who cares for, nurtures, and 
trains the human plants of this garden must have the mother 
spirit. If it seems something beyond some of us, it only waits 
development. 

i. The mother spirit. What is the mother spirit? Of 
course we must think of the real mother at her best, in answer- 
ing this question, not of a mother who may have little of the 
true mother spirit. In a picture of the real mother we see 
sympathy that comes from an understanding of her little one, 
that leads him to turn to her in every time of trouble, that 
prompted one little fellow to say to his comrade in play, who 
hurt himself, "Run to my mother, quick; she will make it well." 
Mother love shows itself in so many ways — sympathy, tender- 
ness, protection, firmness, and even seeming hardness. Love 

41 



42 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

does not mean sentimentalism, and tenderness does not, of 
necessity, mean caressing. Teachers are tempted, sometimes, 
to "darling" their little children so much, that the common 
word "gushing" may best suggest this objectionable ex- 
treme of manner and of word. The affected and superficial 
is harmful, and children quickly detect a sham. A mother's 
tenderness shows itself to the ugly, the deformed, even the 
weak-minded child. Mother love will not be partial toward 
the pretty and the most attractive. Think of "Tony" as 
told of in Lesson IV, and remember that the ugly in spirit 
needs the greater love. There is a capacity for goodness, for 
loveliness in every little child. A mother has great faith in 
possibilities. Love includes protection and to protect from 
harm — "to keep from the evil that is in the world" — may mean 
the giving of a hard experience. Control for a child's good, 
firmness even to punishment, are a part of love, and sympathy 
may be wrapped up in punishment, for "whom the Lord loveth 
he chasteneth." 

2. A godmother. Every good mother is a godmother, for 
it is mother who first reveals God. In a memorial address of 
unusual beauty one minister has told it to us thus : "I want to 
say with all reverence, but with all emphasis, that mother 
revealed God to me. Is not that what your mother did for 
you? Is not that what mothers are doing for children to-day? 
There is a time in a child's life, and often that time is not 
brief, when he learns more of God through the life and love 
and teaching of his mother than he learns through the Bible, 
or even through the personality of Jesus. Through his mother 
he approaches and begins to apprehend and grasp the sublime 
message of the Bible and of Christ. The teachings of reli- 
gion had seemed more or less remote from my life, until I 
learned., that God is like mother. That is the truth presented 
to us by the ancient prophet in the words, 'As one whom his 
mother comforteth, so will I comfort you/ The mother who 
is patient and kind and true and forgiving and loving is a new 
incarnation of the God who possesses all these virtues and 
every other in infinite measure." Whittier tells us : 



THE MOTHERLY TEACHER 43 

"The dear Lord's best interpreters 

Are humble human souls; 
The Gospel of a life like hers 
Is more than books or scrolls." 

"It is by faith in its mother that the child rises to faith in 
God." The original conception of a godmother as adopted by 
the Episcopal Church has in it a significance of beauty and of 
value. Should she not do in a religious relationship what a 
mother does in an all-around relationship? Now, suppose 
that in any church, the teacher of children who are beginning 
to know God, should take this character of godmother and 
fill it full of all spiritual meaning, even though the mere form 
is cast away. There are mothers to-day who do not, and 
others who cannot, give the moral training their children 
need. To these the motherly teacher will prove a double 
blessing. 

3. The ideal made real. In every young girl the mother 
spirit waits development. Think of the most beautiful mother 
you know. Study the great pictures of ideal motherhood — 
the wonderful Madonnas — as far as possible. Of what do they 
speak? It has been said that "the copy of the Sistine Madonna 
hanging upon the wall, asks the woman who placed it there to 
realize in herself this glorious type of motherhood." Go then 
to the little children, and remember that as "They stood to- 
gether in a fragrant garden, Love held the child by the hand 
and looked down into its face with a tenderness so deep that 
it held in its heart the compassion, the sacrifice, the passionate 
yearning of universal motherhood," for "two things Love 
learned in heaven — infinite tenderness and perfect loyalty to 
truth." Go also with the faith that makes faithful, for mother 
love never tires. There are so many little things that mothers 
have to do! And as child-gardeners the things that we can 
do seem so little — the results so long in coming! But — "It is 
not for him who sits at this end of yon telegraph line, and 
with deft and diligent fingers transmits the message into its 
electric veins, to anxiously stop and query whether it will ever 



44 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

reach its destination, and to wonder who is to receive and 
transcribe it upon its arrival. That is not his business. The 
management is adequate to that work. Other minds and hands 
will attend to that. It is for him faithfully to transmit. So, 
it is not for us to query the efficiency of these small acts; 
the saving power of those lowly graces; the daily, hourly 
messages of humble faithfulness. It is only for us to trans- 
mit : the Infinite will receive the dispatches." After long- 
ing, loving, studying, and being faithful, this shall be your 
reward — the ideal of the godmother shall be real to you 
and in you. It is not always the pretty teacher that attracts 
little children; they do not care for externals as do older 
children. It is the one of loving sympathy, and of bright 
smiles, even with a plain face and a quiet manner, that wins 
a little one's confidence and love. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

Write down the characteristics of an ideal mother. 

How may the Sunday school teacher be a true godmother? 



LESSON VIII 
THE LITTLE CHILES SUNDAY SCHOOL A HOME 

A motherly teacher and a family group of little children 
need a place as homelike as possible in which to gather. A 
room that is schoolish in character is undesirable. A corner 
for the Beginners' class in a room with the rest of the Sun- 
day school is unsuitable. Environment counts for much with 
any children, but especially so with little ones. Can you think 
of any reason for this, from previous study? Do children 
absorb somewhat as plants do? If you think so, give illus- 
trations from the life of both. Have you ever watched the 
effect on children of certain surroundings, good or bad? If 
the nurture of the religious life is the aim in teaching Be- 
ginners, then the place where this life may grow is a part of 
those "right conditions," referred to in an earlier lesson. We 
will think, first, of the best room for the purpose; second, of 
a poor room that may be adapted to meet the needs as nearly 
as possible ; and, third, of what can be done in case there is no 
separate room for Beginners. 

i. A desirable room. Imagine a group of thirty children 
seated in a circle in a room twenty-two by thirty feet. A 
carpet of soft-toned colors is on the floor and the chairs are 
of three sizes so that, as little legs vary very much in length, 
all feet may reach the floor, and their owners, whether tall or 
short, may sit comfortably. At either end of the room are 
two tables (each two and one half by seven feet) so placed 
that sometimes they form an oblong five by seven feet and 
again an L, when fifteen children are to be seated at them. 
A single table is convenient when only a few little ones are 
present. Between the circle and the tables is a broad space 
sufficient for marching. The windows are high, letting in the 
best light, but are also low enough for a child to reach the 
sills when standing in a chair, and on these sills are window 

45 



46 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

boxes of flowers which the children tend. On the sides of the 
windows are cream-colored curtains, with a border design of 
green, so hung that they do not obstruct the light. A good 
system of ventilation and heating keeps the air fresh and 
moderately warm. The walls are tinted a gray-green, a rest- 
ful color for the eyes, and a good background for the two or 
three beautiful pictures, hanging quite low for the children to 
see them well. All these things help to make a homelike room. 
Everything has a purpose for the spiritual welfare of these 
small people. Nothing should be done simply for decoration 
or artistic effect. The latter, of course, should be considered, 
for what is beautiful is helpful, and anything inartistic should 
not be chosen. But nothing must be in a Beginners' room 
just because it is beautiful. From the standpoint of art a 
thing may be right; from an educational standpoint it may be 
all wrong for the particular place and use. The plane of the 
child must be remembered : a picture beautiful in itself might 
not be so for little children; and to have a room so well 
furnished and complete that its very conveniences hinder the 
helpful activities of the children takes away its beauty. Seek 
to find the spiritual good in what has been and will be de- 
scribed. On one side wall of this room is a low strip of black- 
board that in color is dark green, for the use of teachers and 
children. On one Sunday this may have a picture of a hill, 
a stream and some cattle nearby, or some other simple scene 
of home life in relation to the story of the day. Another week 
it might be used for the children's drawings. 

A piano is so placed that a group of children can gather 
around it as they might at home. At one end of the room is 
a group of large chairs; this is the "Visitors' Corner," to which 
they invite their fathers and mothers. There are two closets — 
one for the teacher's needs, and to this the little ones do not 
usually go, and one for the materials, to some of which they 
can help themselves when there is need. Can you think of any 
good to the children in having one place open to them and not 
the other? A hat and coat room, together with a toilet closet, 
can be entered from the large room. Not only hooks for 



THE CHILD'S SUNDAY SCHOOL A HOME 47 

wraps are here, but little boxes for rubbers, etc., so arranged 
that they serve for stools as well. Is this any advantage in 
the training of the children? The Beginners' room is in a 
corner of the church building on which the sun shines through 
the morning, and it has an entrance from out of doors that is 
quite distinct from the rest of the school. 

2. How to adapt a room. The larger number of teachers 
cannot have to-da}r such a room as that described above for 
work with Beginners. What, then, can be done? Find the 
best room available and transform it to meet the needs as far 
as possible. If it is a dark room, perhaps the church trustees 
can be persuaded to have a window cut to let in more light 
and air. If there is no system of ventilation, or it works 
poorly, it is quite possible to make one by raising the windows 
six to ten inches, and placing a board in front of the open space 
so that there will be a current of air passing in without a 
draught. This is most important. To attempt to get a re- 
sponse, or to expect to do good spiritually, or even to have 
good order in a room filled with bad air is almost useless and 
is really harmful. If it is dirty or untidy, the first thing a 
teacher had better do is to turn janitor, for human plants will 
not grow in such an environment. If the walls are dark or 
ugly, they may be lightened or made attractive by gray, light 
soft green, or pale buff cloth coverings on the lower half to 
serve as a background for pictures, or for the children's hand- 
work. If there is any unattractive thing standing in the room 
that cannot be moved away, like an unused stove or a pipe, a 
screen set in front of it and used for cards, pictures, or any- 
thing relating to the work will have a more cheery effect 
than, for instance, a rusty furnace pipe ! Pictures, etc., can be 
so fastened as to be easily removed and replaced by others as 
occasion demands. In order to get money for these materials, 
or for curtains, or a closet, or anything needed to make a 
homelike, attractive room, and to do the work well, one of 
several ways may be chosen. If the Sunday school has a 
proper expense fund, a certain amount may be obtained from 
that. If not, one thing may be sought at a time, and the par- 



48 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

ents be asked to contribute for this purpose. Or, one month's 
offerings out of each quarter may be devoted to these needs 
until the room is what it should be. One basement room was 
much improved by the earnest effort of the teacher and her 
girl assistants, who made candy and saved the proceeds of 
the sales for this purpose. There is always some good way of 
doing a thing, if the need is felt strongly enough. In another 
school one of the teachers undertook to see the parents of sixty 
children, and their contributions, plus that of personal friends, 
provided a much-needed piano for the department. In a mis- 
sion school parents paid for chairs of the right size, each for 
one for his own child, and by doing this they became more 
interested in the work. 

3. When a separate room is not available. Think now 
of a church where there is no room to be used by Beginners — 
in fact, where there is only the church auditorium or one room 
for the entire school. Perhaps there are only three, six, or 
twelve children from three to six years of age in the school. 
In that case screen off a corner with a window for this little 
group where at least they can have a story and a prayer, if 
not a song, by themselves. A screen can be made with less 
expense than to buy one. Possibly a carpenter in the church, 
or a manual school student, will make a gift of his work. The 
material of plain colored denim or lining to put on the frame, 
can be had for twelve or fifteen cents per yard ; this, and the 
wood for a screen of four divisions, six feet high, would 
probably cost less than three dollars. If chairs of the right 
size cannot be bought, it is better to have stools than large 
chairs, and the children can kneel and use either stools or 
chairs for table when one is needed. Pictures can be fastened 
to the screen, or hung, by hooks, on a string that is run along 
the wall and fastened to it at each end. If the school is 
crowded for room, it may be possible to obtain the use of 
a home parlor in a neighboring house. If this were care- 
fully arranged for, it would serve better than the church 
corner, for the children would have more freedom and would 
not be disturbed by the noise of other classes. In a New 



THE CHILD'S SUNDAY SCHOOL A HOME 49 

England town was seen recently a group of twenty little ones 
thus gathered in the parsonage, by the minister's wife. In 
the summer the porch of church or house might be used; or, 
if there were no porch, the Beginners' group might well meet 
occasionally on the lawn for an out-of-door Sunday school or 
kindergarten. The only objection to having the group away 
from the church building is that in the minds of the little ones 
there is no connection with the church. In schoolrooms where 
crowded conditions prevail the Beginners' may meet at the 
hour of the church service or at some other period when the 
older children are not present. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

Why is it important to have a suitable and a homelike room ? 

Name important points for a teacher to consider in regard 
to windows, walls, and ventilation. 

How would you, as teacher, seek to improve a dark, untidy, 
barren sort of place? 

What value is there, besides that of a material result, in 
having the cooperation of the parents in an effort to improve 
a room. 



LESSON IX 
TYPICAL PLANS FOR THE BEGINNERS' SESSION 

It was once said that a kindergartner who did not have 
a plan was a very poor one, but a kindergartner who always 
kept to her plan was far worse. This is as true of a Sunday 
school teacher of Beginners. A plan is necessary for any 
successful work, but to hold to it rigidly, especially with little 
children, is altogether wrong. 

i. General aim for the Beginners' Department. There 
should not be only a plan for a single Sunday, but for a 
month and a season, in which certain things should be 
especially thought of and sought for. For instance, on be- 
ginning to teach in the autumn it is most fitting to make 
Thanksgiving the underlying thought of all that is done, first, 
because the season and the home surroundings offer good 
opportunity for this development ; second, because we need 
to train children in giving thanks ; and, third, because the 
coming religious festival is a part of a little child's experience. 
By affording him opportunities to give care, he may be led 
through the weeks to some expression of thanks. This is 
the excellent aim of the first part of the Beginners' course of 
the International Graded Lessons. After thinking of father 
and mother care in various ways, illustrations follow of the 
heavenly Father's care and of his good gifts, until at Thanks- 
giving Day all that is around the child is suggestive of 
thanks. It is only the teacher who sees the end from the 
beginning, who thinks of what September's stories will lead 
up to in November; the children, of course, know only the 
immediate story of the day. 

Underlying the aim of the special season the teacher should 
have a larger aim which will be determinative in all that she 
does. Such an aim is supplied in the International Graded 
Lessons, Beginners' Course: 

51 



52 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

"To lead the little child to the Father." This aim is to 
be realized by helping him: 

1. "To know God, the heavenly Father, who loves him, 
provides for, and protects him. 

2. "To know Jesus, the Son of God, who became a little 
child, who went about doing good, and who is the friend 
and Saviour of little children. 

3. "To know about the heavenly home. 

4. "To distinguish between right and wrong. 

5. "To show his love for God by working with him and for 
others." 

For a more comprehensive and complete statement of the 
aims of a Beginners' Department see the Standard for a 
Beginners' Department (Appendix, page 155). 

2. Plans for the Beginners' session. In making plans 
for the session of her own department the teacher should 
consider her own group and see what can be best done with 
it. It will be remembered that in Lesson I of these studies 
it was suggested that as "bulbs are all different, so children 
are all different." In some things there is universal likeness, 
but others vary with the individual child and group. So the 
best of plans must be adapted to the particular group. The 
songs, pictures, and prayers used should be related to the 
story of the particular day, or to the plan for the season 
as it develops little by little. These, therefore, need to be 
selected carefully for the particular day, and an estimate 
made of what may be wisely used in one month and again 
in three months. There should be no set program or "order 
of exercises" to be used Sunday after Sunday. It will be 
well to plan little variations, and also to be prepared to 
change the plan made if the response of the children, or the 
lack of it, or some other good reason calls for change. For 
instance, the weather might be such that it would be especially 
appropriate to sing about the snow — perhaps a child would 
ask to do so, if the leader did not propose it — and in such 
a case it might be well to set aside the song previously planned 



PLANS FOR THE BEGINNERS' SESSION 53 

for. Notice the "might"; it would not be well always to do 
this, for a valuable part of a larger plan might be thus con- 
tinually broken into. 

3. Three typical plans. Three typical plans for single 
Sundays and different seasons will be outlined here, to show 
what is good for a Beginners' Department, and how a leader 
may outline a plan for a Beginners' session. 

At this age, memorization, either of Bible verses or of 
songs, should be accomplished without direct drill. This 
may be done through their frequent use by the leader in story 
and in conversation. Things come before words in a child's 
interest, and the learning of words should be largely reserved 
for the Primary and Junior periods. What is said in the 
Teacher's Text Book of the Beginners' Course of the Inter- 
national Graded Lessons is quoted here as rightly applying 
to any good work of this kind with little children : "The Bible 
verses for the children are chosen for their simple statement 
of the truth taught, and are not given as mere memory work, 
but simply to be used often by the teacher, so that they shall 
sink into the children's minds and unconsciously become their 
possession." 

In making a program it is necessary to judge of the amount 
of time that its different parts will take and to see that the 
total will fill the allotted time. It is estimated that the fol- 
lowing programs will fill one hour, though in one case there 
are ten items, in another fifteen. Above all things, in work 
with Beginners spontaneity and freedom are desirable. For 
this reason some danger attends the putting into printed form 
of any program or plan for a Beginners' session. The manner 
of development of a program in a particular session cannot 
be indicated in print. In actual practice the teacher should 
be guided by the children's response. She should permit 
conversation and free activity, and under no circumstances 
should she look upon a printed program as an inflexible guide. 
It is, of course, to be understood that the Beginners' session 
for which these plans are suggested makes provision for 
Beginners only, and that it includes all Beginners, with the 



54 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

possible exception of the Cradle Class of three-year-old 
children. For the best use of these plans it is almost neces- 
sary to have a separate Beginners' room. 

Plan i 

Subject: The Heavenly Father's Care for Birds and Animals. 

(Lesson 3, First Year, Beginners' Course. International 
Graded Lessons.) 

Truth to be shown: God's tender care. 
Bible verse: "Your heavenly Father feedeth them" (Matt. 

6. 26). 

1. Music Prelude. 

(1) A tune from Mendelssohn's "Songs Without 
Words"; or 

(2) Tune of new song, "I asked the joyous little Bird" 
(in Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday 
School). 

2. Goodmorning Song. 

a. "Good morning to our Sunday school 

And to our teachers dear ; 
Good morning to the many friends 
W^e always meet with here." 
(Tune in Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School.) 1 

b. Greeting to one another. 

3. Church Bells (Three children in center of circle ringing 

church bells. All stand and sing:) 

" 'Come ! Come ! people come !' 

This is the bell's message to me, to you, 
'Come ! Come ! All may come, 
Fathers, and mothers and children, too.' " 2 

4. Prayer Hymn (heads bowed). 



1 Words by Frederica Beard. Tune by M. R. Hofer. 

2 "Church Bells," by Mildred J. Hill in Songs and Hymns for the Primary 
Sunday School. 



PLANS FOR THE BEGINNERS' SESSION 55 

"Father of all, in heaven above, 
We thank thee for thy love. 
Our food, our homes, and all we wear, 
Tell of thy loving care." 1 

5. Offering: pictures of birds for scrapbook for sick child 

(last lesson was about birds). Children, one by one, 
carry these to small table in center of circle. (They 
should set these previously under chairs to be out of 
the way while singing and praying.) 

6. Story (in two parts; for Part I see Graded Lessons as 

noted above) : "Circle Talk." 

7. a. Song sung by leader of children. 

"I asked the little joyous bird 

Who taught him how to fly 
And sing such pretty songs 

In the bright blue morning sky. 
And he told me it was God 

Who had given to him his wing, 
And taught him how to build his nest 
And taught him how to sing." 
(Tune in Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School.) 
b. Groups of children go to the piano to sing the song. 

8. Story — Part II, including Bible verse. (Graded Lesson as 

above.) 

9. Prayer. 

"Father, thou who carest for smallest tiny flowers, 
And teachest bees and squirrels to save for winter hours, 
To thee, we little children, our loving thanks would bring 
For all thy loving-kindness, of all thy goodness sing." 2 

(Tune in Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School.) 

Or— 

1 "Thanks for Daily Blessings," by M. J. Hill, in Songs and Hymns for the 
Primary Sunday School. 

2 "God's Care of All Things," by M. J. Hill. 



$6 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

"Father, we thank thee for taking care of the birds 
and the squirrels and all the animals. Amen." 

(Said very softly after the leader.) 

iq. Good-by Song. 

"Good-by to all, Tis time, we know, 
For little children home to go, 
Good-by to all, Good-by to all, 
O, may we, till again we meet, 
Be kind and loving, brave and sweet ! 
Good-by to all, Good-by to all, 
To all, good-by.' n 

Plan 2 

For Easter Day 

Subject: Jesus and the Heavenly Home. 

(Lesson 27, Second Year, Beginners' Course, International 
Graded Lessons.) 

Truth to be shown: The happy home where Jesus and other 
friends have gone. 

Bible verse: "I go to prepare a place for you." 

1. Music, "Easter Bells." 

2. A word of good-morning greeting and a little conversa- 

tion about Easter Day as a day when we have flowers 
and music to tell of gladness. 

3. Offering of flowers brought by children "for those who 

are sick," one blossom each, suggested the previous 
Sunday. 

4. Half a dozen children select one flower each, and then 

all together say, 

The flowers appear on the earth; 

The time of the singing of birds is come. 

5. The ringing of Easter bells (by the arm movements of the 

children) to the music of "Easter Bells." 
1 "Good-by Song," in Songs for Little People. 



PLANS FOR THE BEGINNERS' SESSION 57 

(Tune in Folder of Story 27, International Graded Lessons, 
Berean Beginners' Stories, Second Year.) 

6. Singing the words of 

"Easter bells ! Easter bells ! 

Ringing from the steeple tall! 
Easter bells ! Easter bells ! 

We are coming at your call. 
Ding, dong, ding, dong, 
Ding, dong, ding, dong, 
Easter bells 1 Easter * bells ! 

Ringing from the steeple." 

Note. — If there are no bells and no steeple where a certain 
group go to Sunday school, then substitute the following: 

"The little flowers came from the ground, 

At Easter time, at Easter time, 
They raised their heads and looked around 

At happy Easter time. 
And then each little bud did say, 
'Good people, bless this holy day, 
For Christ is risen, the angels say, 
This holy, holy Easter day/ tn 

,In some cases it will be best to make the following adapta- 
tion of the last two lines : 

" 'For God is love/ the angels say 
This happy, happy Easter Day." 

7. Prayer: "We thank thee, our Father, for the flowers, the 

music and all the nice things that tell of thy love for 
us. Amen." 

8. Story: The story found in the Teacher's Textbook of 

the Graded Lessons, Beginners' Course, ending by show- 
ing: 

9. Picture of Hofmann's "Christ." 



1 "Easter Song," by Eleanor Smith, in Songs for Little People. 



58 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

10. Song: "Jesus, Friend of Little Children," in Songs for 

Little People. 1 

11. Prayer: "Dear Father: we are glad there is a beautiful 

home where Jesus is. Amen." 

Note. — In some Sunday schools it would be well to .let 
each child paste on cardboard a copy of the above picture to 
take home as an Easter card, and to have already lettered 
(below where the picture would be mounted) the words, "I 
go to prepare a place for you." If the International Graded 
Lesson folder in which is this picture occurs is used, and it is 
thought better to have a different one, Plockhorst's "Walk to 
Emmaus" may be substituted and the above words used. 

Plan 3 
This is a plan for a Sunday in early spring. 
Subject: The gift of the sunshine. 

Truth to be shown: Kindness: to be illustrated by 

a. God's gift of the bright spring sun. 

b. What the sun does for the sleeping seeds. 

Bible verses: "A pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold 
the sun" (Eccl. 11. 7). 
"He maketh the sun to rise" (Matt. 5. 45). 

1. Music Prelude. (Bright, "sunshiny" music or something 

quieting, according to the mood of the children.) 

2. Good-morning greeting. (By shaking hands with the 

leader.) 

3. Good-morning to the sunshine. (Use a prismatic glass to 

call in the sunbeams on the wall, if the sun shines 
through the Sunday school windows.) 
4. A three-minute talk about "God sends the bright spring 

sun to melt the ice and snow." 
5. Piano plays this story with "a choir" of children near by 



1 "Jesus Friend of Little Children." Words by Walter J. Matham, tune 
adapted from J. H. Maunder. 



PLANS FOR THE BEGINNERS' SESSION 59 

and all the rest singing la, la. (Tune in Songs for Little 

People.) 1 

6. Reading from the Bible. "He maketh his sun to rise." 

7. Offering. Coins dropped one by one in a basket in center 

of circle, also birthday offering — if there has been a 
birthday — and birthday prayer: We thank thee, our 

Father, that has a birthday ; may he be happy 

and loving to-day. 

8. Leader singing to Children : 

"When I'm softly sleeping in the early morn 
Through my window creeping the sunbeams come new born. 
They gently say good morning, then with golden light 
Peeping through my window make my room so bright." 2 

9. Some little children, including the birthday child, may be 
sunbeams going to shine in the dark corners of the 
room. 

10. Another "story" from the Bible: "A pleasant thing it is 

for the eyes to behold the sun." 

11. Repeat "God sends the bright spring sun." (All stand.) 

12. Story of the Golden Fairies bringing Gifts to the Baby 

Violet. See Lesson XVI, page 99 for this story. 

13. Reference to offering: "Shall we give our offering to 

help make a baby happy? Suggestion as to buying milk, 
and money placed in empty milk jar. 

14. Prayer: Our Father, we thank thee for the sun. Help 

us to be bright like sunbeams. 

15. Marching and saying good-by to leader, at the door. 
Note. — If the day were cloudy, it would not be wise to use 

the above plan as a whole. Substitute the following song for 
parts 3, 4, 5, and 6, and adapt the rest as necessary. The 
thought of the rain and sunshine as gifts of the Father is 
quite possible on one day, and the contrast of the sun shining 



1 "God Sends His Bright Spring Sun." Words by Elizabeth Peabody, tune 
by Eleanor Smith. 

2 In Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 



60 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

after the darkness will make the latter part of the plan 
usable. 

Instead of "God Sends the Bright Spring Sun" use 

"God, our Father, made the night, 
Made the moon and stars so bright, 
All the clouds far, far away, 
The shining sun and golden day." 
(Tune in Song Stories for the Sunday School.) 1 

Either with the other Bible verses, or in place of the first 
one, use "He causeth to come down for you the rain." Joel 
2. 23. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

1. What is the value, in the first plan, of the music prelude ? 
In this plan there is a double purpose. By turning back to 
Lesson 7 one purpose may be brought to mind. Suggest the 
other if you can. 

2. There is a threefold value in having the song and repre- 
sentation of the church bells; what is it? 

3. Why should an offering of bird pictures be suggested in- 
stead of the giving of money by these little people? 

4. Which is the simpler of the two prayers that are given 
at the end of the plan? 

5. Why is it better, in the second plan, to tell about Jesus 
and the heavenly home than to tell about the resurrection? 

6. Why is it well to tell little children something about this 
home? 

7. In how many ways might the children be active in the 
carrying out of the third plan? 

8. Why is the offering put in at one place in the program 
and its use talked of later in the hour? 



2 "God's Love," by P. S. and M. J. Hill. Tune arranged from Mozart. 



LESSON X 
SOME PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING 

Four-year-old Bobbie came home from Sunday school, and 
at the dinner table his father said, "Well, 'Sonnie,' what did 
you learn to-day?" Bobbie looked up but had nothing to say. 
"What! did not the teacher tell you anything?" The little 
head nodded, but there was no audible response. "I guess 
you had better not go to Sunday school if you can't learn 
anything." And the little head hung low. 

In another home were another father and another four- 
year-old Beginner. This father was heard to say: "I don't 
care what my boy learns in words. Words don't count. I 
am going to watch. If Billy is more ready to do what mother 
says, if he is more gentle with grandma, and nicer to Betty 
in the kitchen, if he seems glad for the good things he has, 
and wants to say Thank you' with us at the table, I shall 
know that through Sunday school and home we are gaining 
something." A child may repeat words, he may "know" them, 
so far as being able to say them is concerned, but if there is 
no appreciation of what those words mean, they will not make 
him any better even though they are the best and truest that 
can be found. A little one often likes to repeat some saying 
because of its rhythmical sound, or because of the desire to 
jabber of something as a verbal imitation, though it has no 
sense to him. As a verbal exercise this may be a great ac- 
complishment ; beyond that it is worth very little. 

i. Knowledge through experience. The giving of knowl- 
edge, in the sense of giving facts and imparting information, 
is of small importance in teaching little children. To help 
them to know, in the sense of experiencing some truth, is of 
great value. We know that with ourselves actual experience 
makes understanding more real and complete. If I walk 
down a street, I know it better than if I only hear about it. 

61 



62 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

One's knowledge would, of course, be very limited if it 
were confined to individual experience. But we need to re- 
member that all knowledge has come through some one's 
experience, our own or some one else's, directly or indirectly, 
and with a little child his own experience is the most natural 
starting point He must see and touch and come in contact 
with what he is to know, because "the senses are the avenues 
to the mind." A six-year-old illustrated this experimental 
knowing when he said, "I know one thing in the Bible is 
true ! — 'It is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold the sun.' " 
Just what experiences a child under six years usually has, 
and how these can be used in giving him more truth will be 
studied in later lessons. 

2. The cultivation of right feeling. But there is some- 
thing even more important than the teaching of truth, and far 
more important than the knowledge of facts. It is the culti- 
vation of right feeling. A teacher of Beginners had been 
telling a part of the story of Abraham. Right in the midst 
of the story, when she might have touched the feeling of the 
children by telling of the gladness of the father and mother 
when the baby came, and how they thanked God for his 
promise and the gift, she stopped and said, "Now, children, 
what was the name of the father? of the mother? and of 
the boy?" And when the little ones hesitated on any name, 
she repeated it and said, "Now, we will all say it together," 
and added, "We will have the rest of the story next Sunday." 
Cold facts ! What did names signify as compared with a 
beautiful picture of family love? And the story was left 
without a satisfactory ending, because the time had been 
wasted. Through story, song, and prayer we need to culti- 
vate the right sort of feeling, and especially to call forth 
feelings of reverence, of gratitude, and of joy — then to seek 
expression of these in other actions. It may be by all 
uniting in doing something for the Beginners' room, or by 
little acts of service done individually for each other, or for 
the teachers; it may be by the doing of something at home, 
through a suggestion made in Sunday school, or for some 



SOME PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING 63 

one who is sick. The tiniest acts are worth thinking of for 
tiny people to do— perhaps just fetching something from table 
or closet. By the action the feeling grows. 

"Through song and prayer," we said. A little child prays, 
and through the act of praying he feels that God is near. 
He sings a joyous song, and he feels more joy than before. 
He makes a gentle, gracious bow, and a feeling of respect 
grows within him. With this thought in mind the smallest 
acts planned for in Sunday school become important as a 
part of a child's religious training. Everything that is done 
should tend to the cultivation of a feeling in favor of Tight- 
ness, even before he has a definite appreciation of what is 
right and what is wrong. 

3. Direction of action. A young child has been said to be 
"a bundle of feelings" full of smiles and full of tears. Note 
how quickly he passes from one to the other ; how soon, also, 
his affection is transformed. He cries over the loss of a 
friend, but soon laughs over the coming of another. He 
clings to one person to-day, but is satisfied with another to- 
morrow. This is evident in his play with dolls as well as 
people, at the age of three or four years. A group of children 
were in tears on saying good-by to a kindergarten teacher; 
the next week they were perfectly happy with the new one 
who had taken her place. Why is this? It was said in an 
earlier lesson that a child of this age lives in the present. 
As he grows older, past and future have an increasing interest. 
He acts on the impulse of the moment, and our care must be 
that his impulses go out in the right direction. Turn back 
to Lesson I and III and see what has been said about self- 
activity. It must be used. If not directed into good channels, 
it will run into bad ones. Let a child do everything he can 
in Sunday school instead of doing it for him. Give him an 
opportunity to make an effort both for himself and for 
others. If a chair is to be brought forward, ask some child 
to bring it. If pictures or papers are to be distributed, let 
one or two do that. If materials are to be passed, or song 
books to be fetched, look to the children for help. They may 



64 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

assist in many things which it might not be wise for them 
to undertake alone, such as watering plants, or filling a vase 
with water. 

4. Guiding good instincts. We often say we do a thing 
"instinctively." That means there is a certain tendency within 
us that makes us act that way, for example, to run or jump 
when frightened. Fear is an instinct, and the act associated 
with it, running or jumping, is the result of that instinct. 
Young children are governed by their instincts more than 
are older people. Some instincts die out by and by, others 
develop into habits, and some are controlled by the will of 
a person, so that instinct does not have so much power as 
it did in our early days. In the moral and religious training 
of little children we need to remember that they do act by 
instinct, that some instincts are good and some are bad, 
and that the good may supplant the bad if they are brought 
into action. These, then, become habits, and those that are 
objectionable die out from lack of use. What may we do 
about this in Sunday school training? Two or three illus- 
trations will show. There is the instinct of self -activity. 
The desire to do things may die out, or it may turn to 
destructive acts, or it may develop into a habit of helpful- 
ness. Froebel says : "Be cautious, be careful and thoughtful 
at this point, O parents ! You can here at one blow destroy, 
at least for a long time, the instinct of formative activity in 
your children, if you repel their help as childish, useless, of 
little avail or even as a hindrance." There is the instinct of 
fear, and also the instinct of the young to run to their mothers 
for protection, seen in animals as well as children. What is 
hurtful in fear may be overcome by strengthening the feeling 
of security, so that confidence may be established. Some of 
the stories of the International Graded Lessons are chosen 
with this need in mind, for example, the series under the title 
"The Heavenly Father's Care." There is the instinct of self- 
possession (that is, of getting for oneself). It may grow 
into selfishness and greed, or it may develop into a true 
consideration of the rights of ownership, of respect for one's 



SOME PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING 65 

own property and that of other people. Before a child can 
distinguish clearly between "thine" and "mine" he must 
appreciate "mine" ; that is, he must possess and take care of 
things of his own. So with Beginners in Sunday school, as 
at home or in kindergarten, it is well to emphasize "my chair," 
"my place," "my clothes hook," and anything that a child may 
look upon as his own. Self-interest comes before interest in 
others, and as a child realizes that some things are his and 
some belong to other people, he may be led to share with 
others. Later — at the Primary Department age — will come 
naturally an emphasis on honesty and not taking what belongs 
to other people. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

Name four things that a teacher of Beginners should do in 
teaching. 

Which of these is the most important? 

Give an illustration of the difference between knowing a 
fact and experiencing a truth. 

How may training affect instinct? 



LESSON XI 
GUIDES FOR TEACHING 

Once there were two teachers; each wished to bring help 
to her children through a celebration of Thanksgiving Day. 
It was naturally a part of their lives, and here was an oppor- 
tunity for the cultivation of a thankful spirit. One teacher 
began with stories of the harvest time, the gathering in of 
potatoes, apples, and other good things familiar to the little 
ones. She told also of the squirrels and the bees preparing 
for winter, and how God had taught the birds what to do. 
She then told of a mother and how she prepared clothes for 
her little ones, so that they should be warm and comfortable. 
Every now and then during the weeks before Thanksgiving, 
she said, "Shall we say Thank you 5 to God?" and they did. 

The other teacher told of the Pilgrims coming to this 
country and about the Dutch and the dikes in Holland, and 
then of the first Thanksgiving Day, and lastly, of how we 
keep the day somewhat as they did. Which of the two came 
nearest to the child's everyday life? Has history any value 
to a little one under six years of age? He lives in the pres- 
ent both as to time and place. Were both teachers equally 
cultivating a grateful feeling? Which one was giving knowl- 
edge and making that her chief aim? Which one was using 
facts just for the sake of revealing truth? 

i. The point of contact. If three things are remembered 
in teaching young children, the work will be much easier and 
much better than it sometimes proves to be. One of these 
has been called "the point of contact." When that term is 
used, most teachers think at once of a little classic in Sunday 
school literature, The Point of Contact in Teaching, by Pat- 
terson Du Bois. 

The point of contact means that by which a story or subject 
may be related to experiences a child has already had. It 

67 



68 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

must be a description or a story of that which is familiar 
to him; it must refer to things that have already gained 
his interest, so that the new grows out of what is already 
known. To take what is of interest and through it culti- 
vate right feeling, or give an insight into truth, is one secret 
of all good teaching. In the illustration given above, Thanks- 
giving Day was a good point of contact. In what the first 
'teacher did there were several other points of contact, 
for she began with the fruit and vegetables in the chil- 
dren's homes and in the store of which they knew. Suppos- 
ing she had talked of apples to children who had never had 
them, or to city children of cutting the grain, of which they 
knew nothing, there would have been no contact in these 
things. The biblical illustrations of sheep and shepherd are 
useless in lands where sheep have never been known. Mis- 
sionaries have had to substitute something that would be 
appreciated by these people and would convey the same idea 
that Jesus's references to sheep and shepherd gave to the 
people of Palestine. Patterson Du Bois gives in the book 
named above a number of stories showing a child's plane 
of experience, and at the end of one quotes the following, 
which makes clear the same truth as that of the Thanks- 
giving illustration : "To the high-school girl the sidewalks 
were laid on the ground; to the child the ground was hidden 
under the sidewalks. His first experience with earth was not 
the underlying ground, but the overlying sidewalks. She had 
vainly thought to begin at the beginning of God's works, 
instead of the real beginning of knowledge — getting the 'point 
of contact' with the world." When we stop to think how 
much a child learns in the first three or four years of life we 
shall not speak slightingly of it, but when we realize also how 
little knowledge one of this age can have compared to an 
adult, our teaching will be much simpler than it is apt to be. 
Investigations have been made proving that children on enter- 
ing school are often ignorant of much that is ordinary 
knowledge in later life; for example, that milk comes from 
cows, or that wood comes from trees; the size of animals, 



GUIDES FOR TEACHING 69 

or the growth of fruit. Many children have an idea that a 
cow is no larger than its picture, and one little girl assured 
the writer that "it was so big," measuring with her hands 
the length of a kitten ! What must be their imagination about 
many things that are told them from the Bible! Telling 
about much of which they cannot rightly imagine is one 
great reason for the erroneous religious notions that are so 
often evident, and for the amusing and puzzling questions 
asked by children. If our teaching were more simple and 
many things were withheld until a later time, the little ones 
would be saved from confusion, and their parents and teachers 
saved from difficulties. One great essential need for a teacher 
of Beginners is to get down to the plane of a Beginner, to 
see from his viewpoint, and then she will have a point of 
contact. 

2. Keep within the small circle of experience. Here 
is a child with his small circle of experience. We are apt to 
add another circle, and another, instead of working within 
the first. We forget that new ideas can only grow out of old, 
that new impressions must be linked up with earlier impres- 
sions. As Weigle says : "If we could just put our own ideas 
unchanged into a pupil's head, teaching would be a very 
simple thing. But that we cannot do. We can only present 
words and things, and the pupil must understand them in 
his own way and from them construct his own ideas. What 
meaning does he get? What ideas does he form? — these are 
the vital questions in every day's work." There are things 
done with Beginners, especially when they are placed with 
older children in Sunday school, that require a discrimina- 
tion, association, and concentration of attention impossible 
to pupils of Beginners' age. Pictures are shown of subjects 
that are as distinct from the comprehension of the pupil as 
is "the dipper" in the sky; verses are memorized that might 
as well be in a foreign language, for the words used are 
foreign to them. Therefore, in making plans, choose that 
which is nearest and simplest to a child. Subjects which are 
of value later on often lose their power for good when made 



70 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

familiar before the fullness of time. Having a subject both 
near and simple (such as Thanksgiving Day), seek to find 
that which is essential in it, that which will appeal to child 
life and that touches the active rather than the passive side. 

3. Use the positive. A third guiding principle in good 
teaching is, Use the positive rather than the negative. Pre- 
sent and emphasize the good, planning ways in which this 
good may actually be done without suggesting that which is 
bad that should not be done. A mother told her four-year- 
old son not to go across the street to the blacksmith's. He 
had not thought of doing so, but having the suggestion, he 
immediately went when mother was not looking! There will 
be times for saying, "Do not do this," but it will be when the 
children have done the especial wrong act once or we know 
they are tempted to do it. Do not introduce evil of which 
little children know nothing. Here is one great reason for 
not teaching the Ten Commandments to Beginners. What 
do children under six years know of stealing and killing? 
They do not need to be told, "Thou shalt not steal" ; "Thou 
shalt not kill." Before even "Thou shalt not lie" is taught, 
the positive command is needed, "Speak ye the truth." The 
spirit of this — that is, the sense or feeling of truth — should be 
given to the Beginner, and later, when he is in the Primary 
grade, the words should be taught. In the beginning let us 
picture what is true and beautiful and good, that our chil- 
dren may grow that way. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 

What do you understand by the term "the point of con- 
tact"? 

Give an illustration of positive teaching; of negative. 

Why should not the Ten Commandments be taught to Be- 
ginners ? 

Name a good commandment to give to a child of five years 
of age. 



LESSON XII 
THE PLAY SPIRIT 

Play is the life of a little child. We must not then shut 
it out of Sunday school. But what is play? Is it running 
and jumping, is it using sand and blocks or participating in 
a bird play like that found in the so-called kindergarten 
games? It may be one or all of these, but there may be play 
without any of them. It is just the joyous expression in any 
interest that occupies the moment, without any thought of a 
result from such occupation. So singing a song or looking 
at a picture may be play. Just as soon as the song is re- 
peated that "we may learn it," or a picture is looked at "so 
as to remember the story," the play spirit has gone. There 
is nothing wrong in this in itself, but with little children it 
should have a very small place. Learning the song and re- 
membering the story are secondary matters. The joyous 
participation in song, story, and prayer cultivates right feel- 
ing, and so it is worth much, irrespective of any conscious 
acquisition on the part of the child. To be content to do 
that which is sufficient unto the day, the immediate time, is 
a great lesson for the teacher of Beginners to learn. She 
should look into the future in making plans, in the sense of 
planning beyond the single day for a gradual development, 
but in all she does with the children she should live in the 
present and share the play spirit with them. And she should 
never do a thing for the sake of the future if it does not 
also meet the need of the day. 

i. What the play spirit includes. Joy and liberty are the 
great characteristics of play. Doing for the sake of doing 
signifies enjoyment and freedom. If children are conscious 
of restraint, joy and liberty, and consequently play, are lost. 
That does not mean that there should not be a wise hand of 
control over them. Note that Horace Bushnell says : "Play 

71 



72 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

is the symbol and interpreter of liberty, that is, Christian 
liberty. . . . Play wants no motive but play; and so true 
goodness when it is ripe in the soul and is become a complete 
inspiration there, will ask no motive but to be good. There- 
fore, God has purposely set the beginning of the natural life 
in a mood that foreshadows the last and highest chapter of 
immortal character." 1 In other words, the playful spirit, with 
its exuberance of joy and its delight in freedom, is indica- 
tive of that love of life which is the essence of religious 
aspiration and hope. Perhaps Jesus had these characteristics 
of child life in mind when he told us to become like little 
children, for his ideal for his disciples was expressed in 
terms of life, joy and freedom: "I came that they may have 
life, and may have it abundantly"; "that your joy may be 
made full," and "the truth shall make you free." Joy, liberty, 
and life are all in play. 

2. The place of play in the Sunday school. In the Be- 
ginners* and also in the Primary Department two extremes 
are to be found. Some teachers have felt it necessary to 
introduce play exercises of a gymnastic nature, and materials 
to be used in playing. They have not realized that these are 
only partial phases of play expression, and sometimes not 
even that; that in their use there is danger of overshadow- 
ing the higher forms of the play spirit possible to little chil- 
dren. Other teachers have been so fearful of turning the 
Sunday school into a house of play, and have been so earnest 
to have what they call religious results, that they have used 
methods of a work type, not knowing what is truest and most 
beautiful in the religion of a little child. First, let us remem- 
ber that the Beginners' Department without the play spirit 
is an irreligious place, for little children cannot be sincerely 
religious except on a natural plane. Many children repeat 
verses and prayers, and the exercise is thought to be religious, 
but they are irreligious in doing it, because the spirit that is 
true to their life is left out. On the other hand, we must not 
forget that a Beginners' Department in using a certain type 

1 Christian Nurture, Part II, p. 339f. 



THE PLAY SPIRIT 73 

of play — for example, jumping — may be irreligious also, be- 
cause the spirit of reverence and obedience has been lost. 

We may cultivate the real play spirit in a Beginners' ses- 
sion without using the more formal plays of the week day. 
It is important to make a distinction between week-day plays 
and making use of the spirit of play in the Sunday school. 
In not a few Beginners' Departments to-day one may find 
the real play spirit. In such a group there is much joyous 
activity and freedom of action; the children may perhaps 
run one by one to drop their offering in the basket on the 
floor in the center of the circle; again, they may gather 
around the piano or stand with the leader because "it is nice 
to sing that way"; they may sit on the floor in semicircles 
around the leader to have "a good time" in hearing a story, 
until, as one watches the many free, joyous acts, one is re- 
minded of an old verse, "Then shalt thou delight thyself 
in the Lord." In this delight there is the play element. A 
certain group of Beginners had heard a story, with the 
words "He careth for you" given as a climax. It was very 
sweet to see two or three little ones go, by the suggestion of 
their leader, to some others in the circle, and put their arms 
around them playfully, and say gently and brightly, "He 
careth for you." It is a question whether any of them realized 
the meaning of "He careth," but the loving, gentle action had 
its charm and value. At another time certain children were 
called to be "loving mothers" and "strong fathers" and to go 
and help the younger ones put on their rubbers. In this way 
what might have been a task became a helpful service done 
in the spirit of play. 

3. Three essentials which are interdependent. Think of 
the point of contact and the use of the positive rather than 
the negative in teaching, as they were discussed in the last 
lesson, and a little careful thought will show that these two. 
essentials and the play spirit are like links in a chain — each 
dependent on the other. One cannot have a point of contact 
with a little child without the playful spirit, and it is impossi- 
ble to have that spirit unless there be a point of contact in the 



74 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

subject-matter we use with him. And, of course, if the 
negative, that which is wrong, bad, or undesirable, is dwelt 
upon, there can be no joyous play spirit. The presentation 
of that which is good and beautiful will be a help in fulfilling 
the other two essentials. 

Coe's strong words will give a climax to this study: 
"Opposition between the play spirit and the religious spirit 
is not real but only fancied. . . . Unless we discover the 
unity of play with education in religion, we shall never 
secure control of the whole child or the whole youth for 
Christ. , . . The practical problem in part is to extend the 
Christian spirit through all the games and plays of children 
and youth, and the play spirit through all the instrumentalities 
of religious education, so that the whole life shall be lived 
in the sight of God and in friendship with Christ." 1 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

What do you understand by the play spirit? 

Give an illustration of something done in a Beginners' 
group that would be religious from the standpoint of a little 
child ; something that would be irreligious. 

Give illustrations of teaching by the use of the positive 
and by the use of the negative. (Remember that the posi- 
tive means always that which should be, that which is desir- 
able — true, beautiful, and right; the negative, that which 
should not be — an effort to guide to the right by an em- 
phasis on what is wrong.) 

1 Education in Religion and Morals, pp. 144, 145. 



LESSON XIII 
LITTLE CHILDREN SINGING 

"I'll just choose two or three familiar songs out of the 
book each Sunday and let the children sing them." So said 
a young substitute teacher to a friend who asked her about 
her plan for the singing in the two months she was to have 
charge of the Beginners. Evidently to her this was a matter 
of small importance. Her eyes were blind to the great 
opportunity through singing, both in regard to what was 
chosen and the way it might be presented. 

The good teacher will choose her songs in relation to her 
plan for the day. Will she think also of her plan for the 
season? The children will often ask for other songs that are 
dear to them, because they have become familiar and are 
really their own. The number of beautiful hymns and songs 
for little children have so increased in recent years that it 
is quite possible to have only what is fitting; yet many are 
still in use that are not fitting because teachers have not 
realized the importance of the opportunity for good through 
music and song, and the need for study about the use of both. 

i. The use and influence of music. Do you know any- 
thing like music for developing a mood tending toward 
reverence? It rests and soothes the little spirit and again 
calls forth emotions of love and joy. Music of the right 
kind will arouse the spirit of prayer, will quiet disturbing 
elements, will, in short, do what words or bells are power- 
less to do. But deeper far than this will be its influence. 
It has been said that "the right music will serve to govern 
as well as arouse those germs of feeling which later become 
life-controlling emotions." Professor Tomlins, who twenty 
years ago did more perhaps than any other one man for the 
improvement of children's singing, said what may well be 

75 



76 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

repeated now : "Deep down beyond the far-reaching influences 
of the schools, deeper than what he does or thinks, at the 
very heart and soul of the boy, are latent tendencies for good 
and for evil, of which even he, himself, is ignorant. These 
music alone will reach — music, the voice of love, heaven- 
born, God-given. It searches out the flower-germs of the 
soul, awakening them to response, stimulating them to a 
largeness of growth that leaves no place for words." 

But this influence will depend on the suitability of the 
music and the way it is used. The kind for the younger 
child and that for the older is quite different. And this is 
one strong reason for having the little ones by themselves. 
The musician needs to understand children and music. One 
more perfect in technique does not always play as sym- 
pathetically for little children as one who understands their 
needs. Softness of touch, sweetness of tone (both in play- 
ing and singing), with the feeling expressed, will do more 
good than the mere technicalities of music. The piano must 
be made to tell stories, sometimes of rest and quiet, some- 
times of joy and life, and again of singing birds and waving 
trees, of ringing bells and shining sunbeams. This is one 
way in which "germs of feeling" may be "governed as well 
as aroused," as suggested above. And some expression, some 
activity on the part of the children should follow. They 
come to recognize quickly a "glad story" or a "sorry story" 
from the instrument. If it is not possible to have a piano 
in the Beginners' room, see if some one who has a violin 
will use it here. A small organ is not so desirable; it is 
too heavy for little voices, and it is not possible to bring the 
same feeling to children through its use. It cannot tell 
stories to them as does a piano. The use of an instrument a 
few minutes before the beginning of the service is of great 
value. Playing of a right kind will help to overcome too 
great noise, and will prepare the way for appropriate open- 
ing. "Songs without words," or a tune that will later have 
the word-story associated with it, may be played; subcon- 
sciously the children grow familiar with a tune in that way. 



LITTLE CHILDREN SINGING 77 

If Beginners cannot have a room to themselves, see if they 
may not have one song in the service that is all their own. 

2. The importance of right method. Two teachers had 
chosen to teach the good song, "All Things Bright and 
Beautiful." This is the way one did it; first, she wrote the 
first verse on the blackboard and then said, "Now, children, 
as you cannot read, I will read the new song for you, and 
you say the words after me. We will take just one line at 
a time." Each of the four lines was repeated after the 
teacher. "Now, we will say the four together. And then 
Miss S will play just one line while we try and sing it." 
The other teacher told a story about a garden and what she 
saw in it. She asked, "Who made each little flower? and 
who taught the birdie how to sing?" Then she said: "Some- 
body told me all about it. I will sing it to you just as it 
was told to me." And very softly she sang: 

"Each little flower that opens, 

Each little bird that sings, 
God made their glowing colors, 

He made their tiny wings. 
Yes, all things bright and beautiful, 

All creatures great and small, 
And all things wise and wonderful, 

The Lord God made them all." 

Then this teacher said, "The piano can tell the same story 
while we listen, and cannot we have a garden right here, 
and have some little children for flowers just opening, and 
two birdies flying about?" After this all sang "la, la" as the 
tune was played. "Next Sunday we will sing it again," said 
she, "for the clock says, Time to stop now/ " 

Which teacher had a real point of contact? Which was 
teaching words rather than cultivating feelings? Was it 
wise to write on the blackboard when Beginners could not 
read? Which teacher do you feel had most sympathy with 
child life? 

3. Some desirable methods. In the Sunday school, as 



78 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

in the kindergarten, the song both in words and music should 
be the embodiment of the thought given in lesson story or 
conversation. The children will delight in singing other 
songs connected with what has been done in preceding weeks, 
and, of course, there will be the general hymn of praise, or 
prayer of thanksgiving. The whole service should be a unit, 
not a "general exercise" of unrelated songs, followed by a 
lesson disjointed from the rest. The song which has relation 
to the story should usually follow rather than precede it. 
Sometimes the song that is to emphasize the truth of the 
story comes before hearing that story, but as a rule it follows. 
The artist is one who puts in the highest touch at the right 
moment in the right place. Sometimes a verse may be effec- 
tively sung to, or by the children, in the middle of a story; 
more often it will come best at the end. The prayer to be 
sung will be most helpful if it comes before, rather than 
immediately after some spirited song or activity. The ar- 
rangement of the singing must be thought of, as well as the 
right kind of song and its right presentation. If children 
are restless, a song put in at the needed moment will often 
restore the right spirit. It should not be, however, one that 
will divert attention from what is desirable. 

To sing to the children as a part of the story-telling is 
most helpful. It often enriches the feeling and gives the 
touch most needed; for instance, in telling about Jesus and 
the children, supposing the song "The Master Has Come Over 
Jordan" has furnished the realistic setting of the incident; 
the teacher may then give the story again, set to music, using 
the following words and singing very distinctly: 
"The Master has come over Jordan, 
Said Hannah, the mother, one day. 

He is healing the people who throng him 
With a touch of his finger they say. 

And now I shall carry the children, 
Little Rachel and Samuel and John, 

And dear little Esther the baby, 
For the Master to look upon. 



LITTLE CHILDREN SINGING 79 

" 'Now, why shouldst thou hinder the Master/ 

Said Peter, 'with children like these? 
Thou knowest how from morn until evening 

He is teaching, and healing disease.' 
Said Jesus, 'Forbid not the children ; 

Permit them to come unto me/ 
And he took in his arms little Esther, 

And Rachel he set on his knee." 

Of course, such a song as this is not to be sung by the chil- 
dren. 

To sing to them a song intended for them to learn, helps 
them to follow a tune and become familiar with a group 
of words without any formal drill. They can very quickly 
"tell the story as teacher does." And this leads them to right 
expression; to sing a tune merrily if it is merry, brightly if 
it is gay, softly if it is gentle and quiet. The tone or sound 
of the voice itself has a moral influence. A soft, pleasant 
tone — or, in other words, a singing voice — will never be a 
cross nor angry one; and so, for more reasons than one, the 
Beginners' Sunday school may well copy the soft, sweet, 
gentle singing of the kindergarten. 

Sometimes the tune may be developed first. A particular 
song is to be sung on a certain Sunday. For two or three 
weeks previous, the tune is played. The piano speaks with- 
out words, and the children hum softly what the piano says; 
when the time comes for the song to be added to the tune, 
it is sung to the children; they afterward and gradually 
joining in the words. Rarely, with this method, will the 
mere repetition of words be needed. It will be a slower 
method — slower, but surer, for any real development of a 
song, and its assimilation, requires several Sundays. The 
simple childlike "song-stories" and hymns of praise, which 
come so close to child feeling and experience that a respon- 
sive chord is touched are given back almost as the sponta- 
neous utterance of the little soul, if they are rightly developed. 

4. Types of songs. Be sure that the songs are "simple 



80 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

and childlike." The absurd misconstructions and interpre- 
tations that little people give to songs, and the wrong reli- 
gious notions that they gain, are due largely to the Sunday 
school and to the fact that they hear things which they 
should not know for years. Here is a Sunday school where 
the Beginners join with the Primary Department for the 
opening service, and all these children under nine years of 
age are singing "When He Cometh" ! The teachers have not 
stopped to think of the mystifying symbolisms in this song. 
Study it just to see what appreciation it necessitates; a child 
must have a knowledge of "jewels," their value, the term 
"gem," a "crown," and of how he himself can be a jewel. 
No wonder a little girl asked her mother a while ago to sing 
the "biscuit song." Thinking of the only "gem" she knew, 
she sang 

"He will gather, he will gather, 
The gems for his crown." 

We are told that "the children like this," and so of other 
songs that are just as unchildlike. So they "like" candy 
or vulgar street posters, or a dozen other things we withhold. 
What the children like is one essential, but it is not the all- 
controlling one. Seek the reason of the children's likings ; 
often it is the rhythm of the words or the melody of the music 
that charms. Supply that point of interest in a better song. 

The most beautiful story in poetry or prose will be ruined 
by a word analysis. Do not expect a child to understand 
every word of the best songs. But there must be a heart 
appreciation and a general comprehension of a song if it is 
to be of any value — in other words, a mental image of the 
word picture. 

Some of our choicest hymns have symbolic touches that 
may be replaced by simpler words. But we must be careful 
not to convert the poetic form into a mere jingle. Certain 
transpositions and adaptations may ruin the whole, and be- 
come like the one-syllable story books, with their crude and 
useless limitations. If, however, we see the beauty of sim- 



LITTLE CHILDREN SINGING 81 

plicity and the evil of symbolic language, some one who has 
sufficient poetic feeling may make acceptable changes. 

Think of that beautiful children's hymn, "I think when I 
read that sweet story of old." We shall never grow beyond 
it, but there is one line that has an unchildlike symbolism — 
"Yet still to his footstool in prayer I may go." We may 
better say, "Yet still to the Saviour in prayer I may go." 

One other illustration is from "Little Drops of Water." 

"Little deeds of kindness, 

Little words of love, 
Make this world an Eden, 
Like the heaven above." 

Many children are unfamiliar with "Eden" but there will be a 
point of contact if we sing, 

"Make our homes so happy, 
Like the heaven above." 

In some of the best collections of more recent songs there are 
instances of symbolic words that might well be changed in 
similar ways to childlike expressions. 

GOOD SONGS FOR BEGINNERS 
The following list of songs gives some of the best to use 
with Beginners. It is intended to be suggestive but by no 
means exhaustive. For students who are not familiar with 
what is good, these songs should be typical from the stand- 
point of both words and music. Of course it is inevitable 
that some are superior to others in simplicity and beauty, 
and that should be considered when a selection is made. In 
a number of instances two sources are mentioned in order 
that those teachers who cannot purchase one, two, or three 
books may be able to secure some desirable songs in inex- 
pensive form. 

Prayer Songs 
"Thanks for Daily Blessings." 
"Father of all, in heaven above." 



82 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

Song stories for the Sunday School, P. S. and M. J. 
Hill (Clayton F. Summy and Co.). 1 Price, 15 cents. 
Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School, 
Frederica Beard (Clayton F. Summy and Co.). Price, 
25 cents. 
"Morning Prayer." 
"Father, we thank thee for the night." 
Songs for Little People, Danielson and Conant. (Meth- 
odist Book Concern.) Price, 60 cents. 
"Thanks for Constant Care." 
"Father, we thank thee for the light." 
Song Stories for the Sunday School. 
"Morning Prayer." 
"Now the night is over." 
Kindergarten Chimes. (Oliver Ditson Company.) Price, 
$1.00. 
"God's Care of All Things." 
"Father, thou who carest." 

(For the autumn season with its thought of God's provi- 
dence for little creatures.) 
Song Stories for the Sunday School; 
Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
"Hymn of Thanks." 
"For my home and friends I thank thee." 

(A beautiful prayer to use in connection with home 

stories.) 
Songs for Little People. 
"A Prayer for Each Season." 
"Hear us thank thee, kindest Friend." 

(A one verse prayer for each of the four seasons.) 
Songs for Little People. 

Miscellaneous 

"Good Morning to Our Sunday School." 
"Good morning to our Sunday School." 

Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School 
1 To be had of The Methodist Book Concern. 



LITTLE CHILDREN SINGING 83 

"Church Bells." 

"Come, come, people come, 
This the bells' message to me, to you." 
Song stories for the Sunday School. 
"Sabbath Morning Bells." 

"Holy Sabbath, happy morning, 
Joyfully the bells we hear." 
Songs for Little People. 
"Jesus Loves Me." 
"Jesus loves me ! this I know." 
Songs for Little People. 
"There's a Friend for Little Children." 
"There's a friend for little children." 
Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
"I Think When I Read." 
"I think when I read that sweet story of old." 
Songs for Little People. 
"Father's and Mother's Care." 
"Loving Mother, Kind and True." 

Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
"Obedient." 
"Just see that child running." 

Songs of a little Child's Day, Emilie Poulsson and 
Eleanor Smith (Milton Bradley and Company). Price, 
$1.50. 
"Minding Their Mother." 

"When mother pussy mewed, Come here." 
Songs of a Little Child's Day. 
"Useful." 

"He brings his father's slippers." 
Songs of a Little Child's Day. 
"To and Fro" (March song). 
"To and fro, to and fro." 
Songs for Little People. 
"G00D-BY Song." 
"Good-by to all." 

Songs for Little People. 



84 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

"Closing Song." 
"Sunday school is over." 
Carols, Ida F. Leyda. (Leyda Publishing Company.) 
Price, 25 cents. 

Nature Songs 

"All Things Bright and Beautiful." 
"Each little flower that opens." 
Songs for Little People. 
"God's Work." 

"All things bright and beautiful." 
Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
"Little Brown Seed." 

"Little brown seed, O little brown brother." 
Songs for Little People. 
"The Cheerful Sunbeam." 

"One day a sunbeam met a cloud." 
Songs for Little People. 
"Happy as a Robin." 
"Happy as a robin." 

Songs for Little People. 
"The Flower Bed." 
"Baby, what do the blossoms say?" 

Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
"I Asked the Lovely Little Flower." 
"I asked the lovely little flower." 

Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
"Little Drops of Water." 
"Little drops of water." 
Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
"Wind, Sun, and Rain." 
"Blow, winds, blow." 
Carols. 
"The Merry Wind." 

"The wind, one gusty morning." 
Songs of a Little Child's Day. 



LITTLE CHILDREN SINGING 85 

"The Autumn Wind/' 
"With whistle and shout, the wind hurried out." 
Songs of a Little Child's Day. 
"The Busy Wind." 
"The wind blew low, and the wind blew high." 
Songs of a Little Child's Day. 
"World Wonders." 
"Look up ! look up and tell to me." 
Songs of the Child World, No. 2 Riley and Gaynor. 
(The John Church Company.) Price, $1.00. 

Songs for Special Days 

Christmas 
"Christmas Carol." 

"In a lowly manger on the fragrant hay." 
Songs of the Child W^orld. No. 2. 
"Christmas Hymn." 

"In another land and time." 

Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
"In the Bethlehem Stable." 
"'Twas in a lowly stable." 
Songs of a Little Child's Day. 
"Why Do Bells at Christmas Ring?" 
"Why do bells at Christmas ring?" 

Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
Songs for Little People (different tune). 
"Christmas Night." 
"Once within a lowly stable." 

Song Stories for the Sunday School. 
Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
"White Stars of Christmas Shine." 
"White stars of Christmas shine." 
Holiday Songs, Emilie Poulsson. (Milton Bradley Com- 
pany.) Price, $2.00. 
"The Christmas Manger Hymn." 

"Away in a manger, no crib for a bed" (two tunes). 
Songs for Little People. 



86 THE BEGINNERS* WORKER AND WORK 

Easter 
"Awake! Awake." 
"In the sunny springtime." 
Holiday Songs. 
"Children's Easter Praise." 
"On this blessed Easter day." 
Songs for Little People. 

Thanksgiving 
"Thanksgiving Song." 

"O come, dear little children." 
Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
Song Stories for the Sunday School. 

Birthdays 
"Birthday Song." 

"Greetings we offer thee, playmate so dear." 
Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School. 
"A Birthday Greeting." 

"A birthday greeting to you, dear." 
Songs for Little People. 

SONGS TO BE SUNG TO CHILDREN 

"The Master Has Come Over Jordan." 

Songs for Little Children. 
Chant : "Suffer Little Children." 

In many church hymnals. 
Anthem : "Glory to God in the Highest." 

In many church hymnals. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

In previous lessons it has been said that feeling should be 
developed through action. Does siging give an opportunity? 

It has also been said that impulse should be made use of. 
Suppose there is an impulse to say "Thank you." Will the 
prayer-hymn be an expression of the impulse? 

Is it possible to have the play spirit in singing? 

Will the child's activity be utilized? 



LESSON XIV 
THE PRAYING OF A LITTLE CHILD 

"We do not pray because we believe in God," says Lyman 
Abbott; "we believe in God because we pray. A mother 
wishes her child to grow into an experience of prayer. So 
every night, when plays and tasks and human fellowships 
have come to an end for the day, she kneels by her child's 
bed and together they pray. The child repeats 'Now I lay 
me down to sleep/ or 'Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me/ and 
with it the wishes of his love for others. There is a moment 
of pure unselfishness, a moment of indefinable peace. The 
mother feels an invisible companionship which she makes no 
attempt to explain. The child catches the feeling from the 
mother and shares it without understanding it. He wishes 
to do what mother does, to share his mother's 'Quiet Hour/ 
He prays — he believes in the life because he possesses it." 

i. The purpose of a little child's praying. It is much 
the same with the true motherly teacher with her group of 
Beginners : she wishes her children "to grow into an experi- 
ence of prayer" that they may know God and feel that he is ' 
near. She "feels an invisible companionship which she makes 
no attempt to explain." The children catch the feeling from 
this motherly friend and share it without understanding it. 
If they are few in number, they gather around her knee; if 
they make a larger circle, all bow their heads. And then 
they pray^they believe in the life because they possess it. 
It has been said, "The religion that children learn should 
become the religion that they live." It is truer to say, "The 
religion that they live will become the religion that they 
learn." Which is more important, to do a good thing or 
to learn about doing it? For example, to obey or to learn 
words about obeying? Which way shall we understand more 

87 



88 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

quickly what obedience is? Is instruction or training the 
more important? 

2. The importance of right response. While the act of 
praying makes God more real to a child, and the expression, 
"Thank you," intensifies a feeling of thanks, it is well to 
awaken desire in regard to prayer. After a most natural 
conversation with one group of Beginners about the good 
things in the Sunday school room that God had given, and 
a suggestion from the teacher, "It would be nice to thank 
him, would it not?" a little one responded, "Can't we do 
it now?" The right sort of response is worth much, and 
this teacher might well feel content. A single sentence will 
be often a more heartfelt response from little children than 
a longer prayer, as for instance, any of the following: 

"Dear Father in heaven, we thank thee for taking care of 
us. Amen." 

"Our Father, we thank thee for the food we had for break- 
fast. Amen." 

"God, our Father, we thank thee for the flowers and all the 
nice things we have. Amen." 

"Dear heavenly Father, when we are all alone and afraid, 
please take care of us. Amen." 

It happens that three of these short prayers are expressions 
of satisfaction and one is a petition. That proportion is as 
it should be. Of course the kind of asking expressed here 
is right, if it emphasizes to a child that God will take care 
of him; if it raises any doubt or question as to that care, it 
is wrong. But remember in teaching children to pray it is 
not wise to teach them to ask for material things ; often they 
will not get them, and then they are puzzled and disappointed. 
If they spontaneously ask anything, of course, they should 
not be hindered. Sometimes, in order to gain a right re- 
sponse with children who have not been trained to a reverent 
way of acting, it is necessary to deprive them of what they 
should gradually come to feel is a privilege. A kindergartner 
had found her rough children so little prepared for the daily 



THE PRAYING OF A LITTLE CHILD 89 

prayer that she finally said after trying different means, 
"I am sorry, but we cannot have a prayer together this morn- 
ing; we will wait until we can say it in the right way." The 
next morning she again expressed sorrow, and went on to 
other things. The third day a child asked, "Miss Alice, 
mayn't we have our prayer now?" The leader looked at 
the forty children and they grew very quiet for a moment, 
then she said : "Shall we ? Do you all want it ?" There was 
an eager response. They seemed conscious that something 
was wrong without a prayer, and they prayed as they had 
never prayed before. The omission had been worth while. 
Of course this ought not to be necessary with most groups, 
but such a method is better than to attempt to have a prayer 
under wrong conditions. 

3. The form of the prayer. Shall we encourage little 
children to pray in their own words or shall we teach them 
a form of words to use? It is desirable to do both. We 
teach them how to pray by the use of simple sentence prayers 
in a child's own language, such as we have suggested above. 
In addition they should be taught a few formal prayers for 
use on occasions, such as an opening and closing prayer, 
and one for the children's birthdays. They should also have 
a morning and an evening prayer, and a grace for table, for 
use at home. 

The advantage of the above formal prayer is that hav- 
ing become familiar with the form, they can enter more 
into the spirit that is back of it. This is one reason for 
interest in the repetition of the story. A new arrangement 
of words presented constantly is a hindrance rather than a 
help. Of course there must be a certain spontaneity in the 
way the old form is suggested and expressed. If it becomes 
mechanical and the children grow careless in expression, a 
change had better be made. This must be decided by careful 
observation of the way they pray. "Observation" does not 
necessarily mean looking. Even to have an assistant look out 
of the corner of her eye, with the motive of seeing what the 
children are doing, is bad. There may be mental observation, 



90 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

or it may be wise for the pianist, who may not close her 
eyes, to sit so that she can note and afterward report pri- 
vately to the leader her impressions. In all these seemingly 
little matters it is the hand of an artist rather than an 
artisan that is needed to bring about a beautiful result. 

4. Physical attitude in prayer. Physical attitude in 
prayer is important. Kneeling or bowing the head often has 
a right influence on the spirit. Much will be gained if we 
follow the custom of our Episcopal and Catholic friends in 
this respect. It is best to lead children by example and 
suggestion to bow their heads and close their eyes when 
speaking or singing to God. A worshipful attitude is worth 
much. And this is just as important when a prayer is sung 
as when it is said. It has been a matter of surprise to note 
in many Sunday schools that when, for instance, "Father, 
we thank thee for the night," is sung, no prayer attitude is 
sought or expected. Of course, much singing with the head 
bowed would be objectionable because of a degree of con- 
traction, but in this case and to this extent, it is more 
important to train in worship than to consider correct musical 
expression. In this connection we may think of the distinc- 
tion between hymns and songs. The hymn as a song of 
praise and adoration is sung to the person ; the song as a 
poem set to music is about person or subject. Recognizing 
the difference, we shall teach and use these in different ways, 
having the children think of the hymn in the same sense as 
the prayer, in that we speak to the Father in both, and shall 
seek therefore for a more reverent manner than with other 
songs. 

5. How to secure a spirit of worship. Before leading 
little children in prayer the teacher should seek to call forth 
the spirit of worship, as, for example, if the prayer is to be a 
morning thanksgiving, she may talk to the children about the 
day and their gladness in it. If her object is to call forth 
gratitude to God for his good gifts and help her little people 
to express it, she may show a flower and permit the children 
to admire its beautiful colors and to enjoy its perfume. 



THE PRAYING OF A LITTLE CHILD 91 

Often an attitude and spirit of worship may be gained 
through a brief prelude of music of the right kind. It may 
be a tune to which a prayer is set, but if the prayer is to 
be said and not sung, quiet attention and reverence will 
follow the soft playing of a few strains of such tunes as 
"Saviour, Breathe an Evening Blessing," and "Nearer, my 
God, to Thee." It is interesting to see how quickly children 
will respond to the call of the piano to do certain things they 
have come to associate with its different sounds. Sometimes 
a picture will help toward a right spirit. Such a picture as 
Joshua Reynolds' "Samuel" may be hung on the wall for its 
silent influence. Or, a picture of a child "saying grace" may 
be shown after a conversation about our food. There should 
be no forced imitation through this, but simply a natural 
suggestion as to what the child is doing, or of the story the 
picture tells. 

6. Suitable prayers for Beginners. The following 
prayers, to be used with or without music, are illustrations 
of what is suitable for use: 

"Father of all, in heaven above, 
We thank thee for thy love. 
Our food, our homes, and all we wear, 
Tell of thy loving care. Amen." 

(Tune in Song Stories for the Sunday School, and Songs and 
Hymns for the Primary Sunday School.) 

"Father, we thank thee for the light 

Thou sendest us by day. 
For moon and stars that shine at night. 
Thou sendest too their ray. 

"Father, we thank thee for our homes, 

And all the blessings there. 
O may we grow more like to thee 
In tender love and care. Amen." 

(Tune in Song Stories for the Sunday School, and Songs 
and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School.) 



92 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

"Father, thou who carest for smallest tiny flowers, 
And teachest bees and squirrels to save for winter hours. 
To thee we little children our loving thanks would bring, 
For all thy loving kindness, of all thy goodness sing. Amen." 

(Tune in Song Stories for the Sunday School.) 

"Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear us, 
Bless thy little ones, we pray; 
Through the morning be thou near us, 
Keep us safe through all the day. Amen." 

(Tune in Songs and Hymns for the Primary Sunday School.) 

"For our homes and friends we thank thee, 
For our fathers, mothers dear, 
For the hills, the trees, the flowers, 
And the sky so bright and clear." 

(Tune in Songs for Little People.) 

"Hear us thank thee, kindest Friend, 
For the springtime thou dost send, 
For the warm sunshine and rain, 
For the birds that sing again, 
For the sky so clear and blue, 
For this happy Sunday too — 
Hear us thank thee." 

(To be used in the spring.) 

"Kindest Friend, we thank thee now, 
While our heads we lowly bow, 
For the summer sun and shower, 
For each bright and smiling flower, 
For grass so green and cloud so white. 
For rosy morn and dewy night — 
Hear us thank thee." 

(To be used in the summer.) 

"Friend so gentle, kind and dear, 
Listen to thy children here, 



THE PRAYING OF A LITTLE CHILD 93 

While they thank thee for thy love, 
Shown in stars that shine above, 
Shown in frost, in cloud o'erhead, 
Shown in leaves of gold and red-— 
Hear us thank thee." 

(To be used in the autumn.) 
"Loving Friend, O hear our prayer, 
Take into thy tender care 
All the leaves and flowers that sleep, 
In their white bed covered deep. 
Shelter from the wintry storm 
All thy snowbirds : keep them warm — 
Hear our prayer." 

(To be used in the winter.) 
(Tune for the above four verses in Songs for Little People.) 

"Father in heaven, help thy little children 

To love and serve thee throughout this day; 
Help us to be truthful, help us to be kindly, 
That we may please thee in all we do or say." 

(Tune in Kindergarten Chimes.) 

"Father, we thank thee for the night, 

And for the pleasant morning light; 

For rest and food and loving care, 

And all that makes the day so fair. 

"Help us to do the things we should, 
To be to others kind and good; 
In all we do, in work or play 
To grow more loving every day." 

(Tune in Kindergarten Chimes, and in Songs for Little 
People.) 
"Dear Father, we thank thee 

For giving our food; 

Please bless it and help us 

Each one to be good." 



94 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 

What should be the purpose in teaching a child to pray? 
What kind of a prayer is best? 
How is reverence in prayer to be cultivated? 
Show how the principle of the point of contac- is applied 
in any one of the prayers given here that you choose. 



LESSON XV 
THE PURPOSE IN STORY-TELLING 

There will be no "lessons" for Beginners. Stories will 
be the lessons, in so far as there are any to be taught, but 
these must be kept as stories — just stories. There is danger 
of taking a story and turning it into a lesson. The motherly 
teacher will gather her children around her, and as the 
mother tells a story to her little ones at home, so will she. 
Knowledge, in the sense of learning facts, may go to the 
winds. 

I. The high purpose of the story-teller. The Beginners' 
teacher has a higher purpose than that of imparting facts. 
Of course, in almost any story she tells, the children gain 
some information, and this is well so long as the giving of 
it is not made her primary purpose, for there is a more 
important one, and the choice of the story and of the way 
it is developed must be made in view of that higher purpose. 
This teacher has a truth to bring to her little ones that will 
be as food to their religious life, and it is wrapped up in 
several stories. They are to see it first in one story, then 
in another, and again more fully in another, and another. 
She may want to teach the truth that God is love. She 
selects a number of stories in line with this purpose. She 
does not separate the truth from the stories, for if she did, 
they would not understand it. As she tells the stories they 
are like pictures, each showing a little bit of life that these 
children know about, but into which they have never looked 
understandingly. They have not stopped long enough be- 
fore to see in this bit of life the beautiful truth that God 
is love. Now they feel it, they know it without hearing 
it in words. The teacher felt it as she told the stories, and 
the feeling was catching. That was "the lesson" of several 
weeks. In feeling love, they grew loving, for their friend 

95 



96 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

made little ways by which they could express love. And 
"Love from love is sure to grow"; "We love Him because 
He first loved us." 

2. A story for this purpose. One Sunday the Beginners' 
teacher told the following story illustrating love: 

Some people were going together to a beautiful home. 
The Father of this home had called them to come and be 
with him. So they started. They came from many different 
places and by many different ways, and they had a long way 
to go. One day, they saw a little child who had had no 
breakfast nor supper. The little one was very hungry, and 
they said, "We must give some of our supper to this little 
one," and so the child was fed. By and by they met an old 
man, a stranger, walking all alone up the long road. "Let us 
help him," they said, "it will be nicer for him to be with us," 
and the old man was happy to go with them. Another day, 
as these people went on their way, they found a mother with 
her little children, all of them cold and in rags, for they 
had no warm clothes, nor money to buy any. "O ! we have 
more clothes than they have," they said. "We must stop 
awhile and give them some" ; and once more the people 
stopped. Here they found sick children too, and some who 
were kept in a large house and could not ever go out. They 
waited to visit them and tried to make them happy. At 
last they came near the home of the great Father. The light 
from this home was more beautiful than anything they had 
ever seen. Just as they entered the door, Some One met 
them and he said : "Come in, come in ! You may have this 
home with me, for when I was hungry you gave me some- 
thing to eat ; when I was thirsty you gave me a drink ; when 
I was a stranger and all alone you took me with you; when 
I was sick you came to visit me." Then these people said : 
"We never did anything for you. We never saw you when 
you were hungry and sick." And he said, "No, but you did 
these things for the people you did see, and it was just as 
good as doing them for me." It was Jesus who was speaking, 
and he took them to the Heavenly Father. 

Do you see that this teacher had one great purpose in 
telling this story? It might be called the general aim: to 
lead the child to the Father by a cultivation of right feeling. 
This was a part of a purpose continued for several weeks : 
to show God's love through definite word pictures. The 



THE PURPOSE IN STORY-TELLING 97 

particular purpose for the day was to show love in action 
that was like God's. There should be always the one and 
the other, related to each other; the purpose of the one day 
contributing to the larger purpose, and in some instances 
being a climax of what has gone before. The general aim 
will be continuous and apply to all stories used, while in the 
case of each there should be also a specific aim. 

3. A threefold purpose. The description given above ought 
to reveal a threefold purpose: (1) To make God real to the 
little child, or, we may say, to make him conscious of God; 
(2) to develop a right feeling in the child; (3) to lead him 
to act rightly. A story may do one or another of these three 
things, or it may do all three to some extent. If it has not 
the capacity — the producing power we may call it — to do one 
of these, it is not worth telling in Sunday school. Sometimes 
a story is told to introduce a story, or to "get the attention 
of the children for the lesson." That is a poor purpose and 
a poor method. It suggests at once that the second story, 
or the so-called lesson, is not what it should be, that it has 
not the power to get attention or bring a direct response. 
Generally speaking, one story is all-sufficient; if, as an excep- 
tion, two are needed to fulfill a certain purpose, then they 
had better not be immediately connected. Confusion is likely 
to result, and the desired impression be altogether lost. 

4. Fulfilling the purpose. With a purpose there must be 
an expected result, a fulfillment. But the one may not im- 
mediately follow the other. And often it is not so direct as 
we might imagine. Frances Weld Danielson has well said: 
"We do not desire children that have merely knowledge, 
neither do we wish emotional children. We prefer children 
that act. Do we, then, expect an immediate and continuous 
response in conduct? Do we find our children a little more 
helpful after each of a group of stories on helpfulness? 
Shall we see an instantaneous unselfish act follow our lesson 
on that subject, and prompt obedience the result of a story 
illustrating that virtue? How is it with ourselves? Do we 
respond immediately to the fine sermon or touching song 



98 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

or inspiring book? Is not our next act often a petty one? 
Has the inspiration then gone for nothing? Not at all. The 
great difference is that we feel our pettiness as never before. 
The result of our ideal raised is discontent and contrition at 
not reaching that ideal, which leads eventually to greater 
effort and hence to greater success. We certainly cannot 
expect more of our children than of ourselves. After all, 
don't you find in yourself that the only effective incentive 
to goodness is love of goodness? If we have awakened the 
response of love of right in our children, we may well feel 
satisfied, even if their acts do not always bear this out." 1 
This is really a cultivation of attitude; it is much if a child 
wants to do right. An interesting illustration of this is the 
following: "I wish my little boy would try to be good all 
the time," said Bobby's mamma, rocking him to sleep. "I 
do," replied Bobby, "but I don't think I am big enough to 
do very well at it yet." Bobby was right. One has to try 
to be good a long, long time before "doing very well at it." 3 
5. The unseen fulfillment. We cannot always know that 
a story has served its purpose. We can tell very little by 
their remarks, but occasionally a word dropped, a look shown 
will reveal much. One day, when a sprouting acorn was 
taken to forty little children, and a story told of the sleep- 
ing baby who was just waking up, with the purpose of 
cultivating reverence for the new life that was around these 
children, the look of wonder and appreciation that came 
into those faces was such that it has not been forgotten by 
the story-teller through the years. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 

What is the most important purpose in story-telling? 
Name a threefold plan that a teacher may have in the ful- 
fillment of this purpose. 
What truth do you find in the illustration here given? 
On what Bible passage is this story based? 



1 "The Pilgrim Teacher," October, 1013. 

2 Love and Law in Child Training, p. 152. 



LESSON XVI 
STORIES THAT FULFILL THE PURPOSE 

There are three desirable types of stories to use with 
Beginners in Sunday school in fulfilling the purposes dis- 
cussed in the last lesson. These three types are (i) nature 
stories, (2) stories of home life, (3) Bible stories, including 
those developed from biblical incidents or statements. 

1. Nature stories. There is a beautiful opportunity through 
nature stories to show God's protection and care for all his 
creatures and to cultivate in the little child such virtues as 
reverence, joy, gratitude, kindness, and obedience. By this 
time the student should have had opportunity to become ac- 
quainted with the Beginners' Teacher's Text Books, Interna- 
tional Graded Lessons. Students are asked to study especially 
the following stories, noting how they fulfill the purpose 
stated above: Father and Mother Bird's Care; The Heavenly 
Father's Care for Birds and Animals ; Animals Protect- 
ing Their Little Ones; God's Gift of Snow; How God 
Protects Plants; How God Protects Birds; The Gift of 
Day and Night; God's Gift of the Wind, Sun, and Rain. 
Other illustrations of a somewhat different type which will 
be found to be admirable are The Golden Fairies, The Glen- 
diveers, The Waterdrop Family, The Crystal Workers and 
The Little Seed. As an example of these we give the story 
of The Golden Fairies. 

THE GOLDEN FAIRIES 

A company of golden fairies went hand in hand into the 
woods one day. They were bright and beautiful as they 
skipped and danced along their way. Presently they came 
to a place where a tiny flower baby lived. The little one was 
fast asleep in the dark brown earth, which was its house. 
A crack in the earth near by made a window for the fairies 
to peep through. 

99 



ioo THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

The house was very dark and very cold. They saw the 
baby fast asleep, and they said to each other, "Let us go 
away and come again some other day, and we will each 
bring something for the baby." Then one little fairy said, 
"Let us make the dark house light," and another fairy said, 
"Let us make the cold house warm." A third fairy said, 
"I would like to give the baby a new dress," and the last 
fairy said, "I will carry a kiss to the little one." 

And so it was. When they went back, they stayed a long 
time. As they worked together the house grew lighter and 
lighter. Then it began to grow very warm. The baby moved 
a little, and one little fairy passed very softly through the 
window and gently kissed the half-waked flower. Then they 
all called, "Come little one, come out and play with us." 

As the baby flower opened wide its eyes^ it saw itself 
clothed with a beautiful violet dress. A sister who had 
waked earlier, and gone out into the world, looked from her 
place and said, "They always call us violets." 

Children, can you guess who were the golden fairies? 
They go into many dark places of the earth. They help to 
make the world beautiful. Often they peep through your 
window. Sometimes you may see them on the curtain, on 
the wall or on the floor, and I have seen them dressed in 
the most beautiful colors of red and orange, and green, blue, 
and violet, standing side by side. 

A little child sang this song about one of these fairies — 
its name I will not tell, but let you say it in the right place. 

"When I'm softly sleeping 

In the early morn, 
Through my window creeping 

A comes new born. 

It gently says good morning, 

Then with golden light, 
Peeping through my curtain 

Makes my room so bright. 

"Welcome little 



Kindly thou hast come. 
Bringing cheerful 



From thy far-off home. 
Welcome little 

Gladly I would be, 
Pure, and bright and gentle, 

Helpful just like thee." 1 



i By Nellie C. Alexander, adapted from Froebel. Tune by Eleanor Smith 
in Songs for Little People, Vol. I. 



STORIES THAT FULFILL THE PURPOSE 101 

2. Home life stories. Through stories of home life, feel- 
ings of protection, love, and kindness may all be developed. 
As one possibility, think of helpers in the home, and for the 
home, In the Circle Talks, and incidentally in some of the 
stories of the International Graded Lessons, many references 
are made to this thought. See especially the folder stories 
used when Bible stories are retold, such as "A Little Lost 
Child," "Great Grandmother's Birthday," "Big Sister," "A 
Little Helper," and "Harry's Good-by." It would be well, 
occasionally, to have stories emphasizing ideal home life. A 
story, for instance, about father and mother love, about dear 
old grandmother's kindness, or about the servant in the house. 
The following is a simple illustration : 

Once there was a dear old nurse and her name was Auntie 
Nan. In the home where she was nurse there were two, 
three, four, five boys and girls. All day long she helped these 
little people. All night long she slept near by them. If one 
was ill or cried in the night, Auntie Nan was near to com- 
fort and to help. Once when Baby Betty was ill nurse held 
her in her arms all through the night, and never went to 
sleep at all. She was just like a mother to these children. 
She tied Polly's ribbon on her hair. She sewed up the holes 
in Tommy's stockings. She made the nicest little caps for 
little Jack and Joe. But one Sunday morning, just like ours 
to-day, Auntie Nan was so tired and so sick she could not 
get up. Then the children said, "What can we do?" Dear 
Polly climbed up in the big chair. "I'll play nurse," she said. 
"I'll take my bestest handkerchief and wet it, and put it on 
her head." And Tommy said, "I'll go on tip toe upstairs, so 
she won't know." "Now, Jack and Joe," said Polly, "you 
run out and pick dandelions and I'll put them in the vase 
for her to see when she wakes up. Let's take Betty out of 
doors too, so she won't cry." And so they did. 

Helpers for the home may suggest cooperation and bring 
respect for workers whom children do not always honor, 
that is, the milkman as a helper, the woodsman, the police- 
man. The last named should suggest protection rather than 
fear to little ones; he should be pictured as one who takes 
care when mothers and children cross the streets, who guards 
a child if he gets lost, who watches at night that all may be 



102 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

kept safe. Family cooperation may be suggested, as well as 
feelings of admiration and wonder cultivated, by stories of 
the united efforts of ants, bees, and coral workers. 

3. Bible stories. For the study of the best typical stories 
of this kind a few will be named and the titles will quickly 
suggest what these are to the student familiar with the Bible. 
If the stories named below are not familiar, and the student 
does not recall their origin in the Bible, it will be wise to 
turn to the references given in the Teacher's Text Book, 
International Graded Lessons, read what the Bible says, and 
see how some of the subjects are developed there. 

The Heavenly Father's Care for Birds and Animals ; The 
Heavenly Father's Care for His Children ; The Story of a 
Shepherd and His Sheep ; The Story of the Good Samaritan ; 
The Story of the Baby Jesus ; Jesus Caring for Hungry 
People; Jesus Caring for a Sick Boy; Jesus Loving Little 
Children ; Children's Love for Jesus. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

Name one story that is especially fitted for the younger 
children. 

Name one that would be better for five-year-olds than 
for three-year-olds. 

What value is there in teaching little children to think 
of wind, sun, and rain as helpers? 

To whom would you tell a story of snow and ice? To 
whom would you not tell it? 

Can a Bible truth be taught through a nature story? 



LESSON XVII 
TELLING A STORY 

Somewhere it has been told that a little girl was visiting 
friends and was persuaded rather against her will to go with 
them to a Vesper service. The minister told a story to his 
young people, and at the end of the service the child ran 
up to him impulsively exclaiming, "I wish you were my min- 
ister !" 

"Why is that, my dear?" said the minister. 

"Because you tell stories." 

"And does not your minister tell stories?" 

"My minister ! he don't know enough." 

It may be that there are few teachers who "know enough 1" 
Some rules in this lesson may be of help. 

i. Four rules for the story-teller. There are four simple 
rules which should be borne in mind by the Beginners' 
teacher : 

Tell a story — do not "teach" it — to Beginners. 

Tell a story — do not read it — to Beginners. 

Tell it to yourself before you tell it to them. 

Tell it to an imaginary group of children more than once, 
before you tell it to your own group. 

Practice is essential for good story-telling. It is neces- 
sary before telling each story, so as to know it thoroughly. 
The textbook from which the story is taken should be left 
at home. It is best for the children to feel the spontaneous 
expression of the story-teller, and it is not for them to know 
that there is a prepared plan for the leader. She should have 
her Bible, and use it every now and then. Suppose after 
telling a story she is going to give a little verse, such as, 
"He careth for you," or "Be ye kind one to another." It is 
quite natural to take up the Bible and to say: "I have found 
something in the Bible for you," or "God has told us some- 
thing he wanted us to remember. I will read it to you." If 
the story is from the Bible, it may be opened with the re- 

103 



104 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

mark, "The story I have for you to-day is told right here in 
the Bible." This is simply for the sake of association, and 
to let the children feel that beautiful stories and words are 
in the Bible and therefore we all love it. 

2. The use of objects in story-telling. The nature stories 
and the conversational stories of home life often call for the 
use of an object. These will be referred to more fully in a 
later lesson. But whatever is used should be chosen because 
of its direct, immediate, and real value, not because of any 
symbolic value it may have. The object should be introduced 
in telling the story at just the right time, or it may prove 
a hindrance rather than a help. To keep it hidden until that 
time is wise, whether it is at the beginning, the middle, or 
the end. Suppose after telling of Jesus's love for the flowers 
and what he said to the people about them, the story-teller 
should take from a paper a beautiful lily or tulip and say, 
"If Jesus were here just now, I think he would say, 'Look 
at this beautiful flower and be glad you have it; you may be 
happy and grow beautiful too/ " It will mean more to bring 
it forth just when needed than to have it in full sight from 
the beginning. This, of course, is as true with a picture. 
To present it at the right moment in the right way will add 
much to the effective telling of a story, if the picture be of 
the right kind. 

3. The importance of real interest. To tell a story suc- 
cessfully one must believe in it, love it, and feel its truth. 
That does not mean that a story must be one of facts or 
that the story-teller must believe it really happened. There 
is often more spiritual good in a story that is not true than 
in one of facts. But it is necessary to see the value in the 
story, to feel the spiritual good, to care for it. If this can- 
not be in regard to an assigned story, a teacher will do right 
to omit it, and substitute something which she does believe 
and love. If she cannot do that, she can repeat one already 
loved and used. 

4. Repetition of stories. To repeat the same story in 
telling stories to little children is most desirable. One of the 



TELLING A STORY 105 

good arrangements in the International Graded Lessons is 
the opportunity given for repetition and the choice in regard 
to it. A young teacher, having never heard of repeating a 
lesson in Sunday school, asked one day if it were right to 
tell a story a second time and the question was put to her, 
"Why do you repeat a song?" In first hearing a story a 
little child often does not enter into more than a part of it, 
or we may say, it enters only gradually into him. The pic- 
ture grows before him, and when the framework — the sound, 
and the form of words become familiar, then the vital part 
is more and more interesting. 

5. Abbreviation and expansion of stories. There are 
stories that should be abbreviated for use with all young 
children, and again some that may need abbreviation for a 
particular group. Suppose a teacher is using the Beginners' 
Graded Lessons, and one autumn she has a group of children 
younger than usual, it will be wise to shorten some of the 
stories. Or suppose a teacher has a foreign group just 
beginning to understand English, she will certainly have to 
abbreviate and simplify. 1 There are also stories that should 
be expanded beyond what is given in the Bible, as that of the 
shepherds at Christmas time, or that of Jesus and the chil- 
dren. "A reading between the lines," with the use of one's 
imagination, enables one to enlarge the picture and make it 
real. 

6. Action is required. There must be action in stories for 
young children ; the characters, whether they be birds, animals, 
or persons, must be doing something. The manner of tell- 
ing the story must be realistic too, and of the active type. 
Description should wait for a later time. Short, simple sen- 
tences telling what each character did and said are most 
desirable. The story of "The Three Bears" may suggest to 
the mind the sort of thing for which to seek. It is full of 
realistic action, so natural to the child mind that it is al- 
ways a favorite. 



1 In either of these cases it might be well to use instead of the regular Be- 
ginners' Course, Object Lessons for the Cradle Roll, by Frances Weld Danielson. 



io6 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

7. Judging the story. It has been said that if a teacher 
does not like a story, she cannot use it successfully. There 
is another side to the matter — because you like a story, even 
a Bible story, that does not make it a good one to tell to a 
child. It must be judged from bis standpoint. Again, the 
fact that he likes it does not make it right to use it. Apply 
the same truth here as was applied to songs for little chil- 
dren. Look back also to the lesson about the positive and 
the negative and remember it in story-telling. A story hav- 
ing evil in it with which a child is not familiar should be 
excluded. Are children under six years of age familiar with 
the evil that is pictured in many of the Old Testament stories ? 

Story-telling is picture work. As things stand before words 
with a little child, so a picture precedes a story in his in- 
terest. When we begin to use words with him, the story 
should be as near a picture as possible, with many details 
left out and strong, striking figures put in. 

8. Becoming a story-teller. Some are "born story-tellers" 
— and some are not! But all may become story-tellers if 
they try hard enough. It has been well said that "nothing 
but aptitude is borne with one, and aptitude may be de- 
veloped." It is a matter of practice, practice, practice. 
These books will be helpful for study: 

How to Tell Stories to Children, by Sarah Cone Bryant. 
Stories and Story-Telling, by Edward P. St. John. 
The Art of the Story-Teller, by Marie L. Shedlock. 
Picture Work, Walter Hervey. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

On what does successful story-telling depend? You may 
find five things mentioned in this lesson as necessary for 
success. 

What reasons can you name for the repetition of a story 
to a little child? 

State four guides, or principles, in the selection of stories 
for young children. 



LESSON XVIII 

TRUTH THROUGH NATURE AND HOME LIFE 

As teachers of Beginners we should realize that God's 
truth is not only in his word but also in his world, that God's 
out of doors is like an open book, showing his goodness and 
his love, his protection and his care, and the wonderful things 
that he has done. Because it is full of things, it is nearer the 
child than the written word in the Book. Through Mother 
Nature and her children it is possible to reveal truths of 
very great importance to the child. This was clearly in- 
dicated in the nature stories discussed in the last lesson. We 
will study now how the objects and actions of nature may 
reveal God to a child. Tennyson's words cannot be too often 
recalled to our own minds : 

"Flower in the crannied wall, 
I pluck you out of the crannies, 
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower— but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is." 

i. Objects of nature. Beautiful objects of nature should 
be around a child to be looked at, at chance moments. They 
should not be in the Sunday school room simply for decora- 
tion. They need not always be related to a story, although 
it is necessary for the attention of the children to be directed 
to them. Always they will bear a silent message. Here in 
one room is a spray of red berries and one of winter pine; 
on a corner shelf are some curiously marked stones and 
crystals, and on the window sill some boxes of seeds just 
beginning to sprout. And this is a room in a city church. 
How did these things get there? The leader had asked her 
two assistants to care for the small seed boxes at their 

107 



108 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

homes through the week. A friend was in the mountains 
in the autumn and she was asked to bring the sprays home 
with her ; the stones had been found when the teacher herself 
was away in the summer; a deserted bird's nest was also 
brought home and treasured for a time. Every now and 
then something new was placed where the children could 
observe it, and some of the old things were laid away for a 
time. To let the children see the wonderful was a part of 
this teacher's plan. She borrowed from a kindergarten a 
bowl of gold fish for one Sunday; in the spring she put 
oats on some cotton-batting placed on a tumbler full of water, 
and some water cress seed on a wet sponge, that the chil- 
dren might see growth and change. It was more important 
for them to see than for her to explain ; in fact, it was well 
for them to feel that of some things we cannot know the 
why and how. 

"Knowest thou what wove yon wood bird's nest 
Of leaves, and feathers from her breast? 
Or how the fish outbuilt her shell, 
Painting with morn each annual cell? 
Or how the sacred pine tree adds 
To her old leaves new myriads?" 

2. In the city Sunday school. City teachers sometimes 
feel that they cannot get or use natural objects, as can those 
living in suburban places or in the country. Often this de- 
pends on planning ahead and devising ways and means, as in 
the case above. Children who come from a miserable environ- 
ment should be especially surrounded with beautiful natural 
objects in Sunday school and day school, that there they 
may have at least a little of what their lives ought not to be 
deprived. Of course the use of objects of nature in teaching 
is somewhat dependent on locality, as there would be no point 
of contact in many objects for children who have lived in 
tenement districts all their lives, and have never even seen the 
grass growing. This is also true in relation to biblical illus- 
trations drawn from nature. "It is a question how much a 



TRUTH THROUGH NATURE AND HOME LIFE 109 

child can get out of the many figures in the Bible which are 
drawn from pastoral life — a child who has seen sheep only 
in pictures and knows nothing whatever of shepherds. A 
child, again, whose only experiences of fishing have been 
gotten on an occasional picnic, will hardly comprehend the 
illustrations which Jesus used in teaching the fishermen whom 
he trained to be 'fishers of men'" (Weigle). But the term 
"nature" is more inclusive than we sometimes think. Take 
what is in the environment of the child — for instance, an 
apple from the grocer's barrel. Tell a simple story of its 
journey before it came into the store and of its home, then 
cut open the apple, take out the "baby seeds," and remove 
the coverings that have kept them safe, and the apple will 
have a new significance in the eyes of the children. And 
here they will have an illustration of protection. A helpful 
suggestion may also come through the comparison of several 
familiar seeds — peach, pear, orange — and the verse may be 
used — "God giveth ... to every seed his own body" (1 Cor. 
15. 38). Again, the waterdrops cannot be talked of in relation 
to sea or river, it may be, but they may be used from the 
starting point of mother's teakettle. 

3. In the country Sunday school. For the country Sun- 
day school there is an abundance of natural objects. The 
question here is what to do with them. It may be harder 
to use available material to advantage in an indirect way, 
because so seldom have the Beginners a room separate from 
the rest of the school. But the direct use of nature material 
will be possible. Sometimes "familiarity breeds contempt" 
even with young children ; but if the familiar is taken and 
something unfamiliar about it is noted, a feeling of wonder 
and a sense of joy may be awakened in regard to their sur- 
roundings. It is necessary in all teaching to remember that 
"a repetition of the old and familiar with no new element 
cannot hold the attention and may even fail to arouse it to a 
passing look. A presentation of the absolutely new, with 
no link of connection with past experience, would fail just 
as completely, for it would be unintelligible. Neither the old 



no THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

alone nor the new alone can engage the attention. The old 
alone is flat and stale, and is met mechanically by habit; the 
new alone is meaningless. But when we can bring the. past 
to bear upon the present ; when we can see the old in the new 
and the new in the old, the new giving life to the old, and 
the old giving meaning to the new, then interest awakens 
and the mind is alert. 1 Little poems such as the following, 
with or without music, will often help to give this life in- 
terest : 

"Think what a host of queer little seeds, 
Soon to make flowers and mosses and weeds, 
Are under the leaves and the ice and snow, 
Waiting, waiting to grow. 

"Think of the roots getting ready to sprout, 
Reaching their slender brown fingers about, 
Under the leaves and the ice and the snow, 
Waiting, waiting to grow. 

"Nothing so small, or hidden so well 
That God cannot find it and presently tell, 
His sun where to shine, and his rain where to go, 
Helping, helping them grow." 

(Author unknown.) 

"Said a little seed hiding under the snow, 
T feel to-day I'd like to grow!' 
Said a leaf-bud folded up so tight, 
Tm sure I'll burst before 'tis night!' 
Said a bluebird singing in a tree, 
'It feels like spring to-day to me/ " 

(Edith Crowninshield. Tune in Kindergarten and First 
Grade. Used by permission.) 

4. The value of nature observation. In the volume, Re- 
ports of the Kindergarten Committee of Nineteen, entitled 

1 The Pupil and the Teacher, Weigle, p. 143. See also The Point of Con- 
tact in Teaching, Du Bois. 



TRUTH THROUGH NATURE AND HOME LIFE in 

'The Kindergarten," the following suggestive account is 
given of the good that may result from the observation of 
nature (page 204). 

"Then followed these comments" (that is, after a visit 
to the country and to a farm and some weeks of nature ob- 
servation in a kindergarten) : 

" 'The mother cow takes care of the baby calf/ 

" 'The mother horse takes care of the baby colt.' 

" 'The mother hen takes care of chickens/ 

" 'The farmer takes care of them all/ 

" 'Do mother plants have anything to take care of ?' said 
I. 'The seed babies/ said one child. 'How does she do it?' 
Then the children told me over again what we had discovered 
when we were studying seeds — how they were wrapped up to 
keep them dry and warm, etc. 'Mother takes care of our 
baby/ said one child. 'What have we to take care of?' I 
asked. 'Our gardens/ said one; 'Our bunny/ cried another; 
'Ourselves/ said Elizabeth, who is possessed of a restive 
spirit and to whom self-control has meant a struggle. Thus 
ended our discussion, and I felt that the little nurtured beings 
who came to us in the fall had felt the quickening touch of 
the year's experiences and were themselves becoming nur- 
turers." It is to be remembered, as has been brought out in 
earlier lessons, that nature observation has also specific 
religious values. 

5. Truth through home life. The stories given in Lesson 
XVI gave some insight into how home life may be used to 
bring religious lessons to a child. Very often a story is a 
mirror revealing to the child the real and the ideal, what he 
is and what he may be. For the youngest Beginners the 
experiences of home life are the most natural from which 
to teach them. The following illustration is one of a series 
of talks on "Helpers for the Home," and may on a special 
occasion be used in place of a story, or be used in a circle 
talk. 

HELPERS FOR THE HOME 

Do you remember how many families of fingers there are 



ii2 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

which help to keep the home bright? Mothers', fathers', the 
servants', and the children's are all workers in the home. I 
am thinking to-day of some hands which work hard and 
which help us every day. These hands belong to someone who 
comes to most of our houses every morning and brings some- 
thing for breakfast— something which the babies like. Yes, 
the milk, and the milkman brings it. We could not get along 
nearly so well — could we? — if the milkman didn't come. O 
yes, we could get it at the store, or at some house where a 
great deal was kept^ but still a milkman must have brought 
it there. And how nice it is that there is a worker who brings 
it right to our doors ! The milkman has to get up very early 
in the morning, so as to get the milk and take it to many 
houses in time for breakfast; then often he comes again in 
the afternoon. (If this thought is to be developed in the 
country, among farmers' children, the same general idea 
would hold good. In this case the father or the man work- 
ing on the farm would be doing the good service.) Now, 
can you think of some other workers for the home, whom 
we are very glad to have serve us? I know of someone who 
keeps a store ; yes, the butcher, the grocer. We couldn't get 
our meat or sugar or flour very well, if there were no butcher 
and no grocer. Yes, of course, we pay these people money. 
That is for the trouble they take. But we should have a 
hard time if they did not help us. Perhaps you can think 
of other helpers, who do other kinds of work for us and 
help in other ways. 

It will be good practice for each student to prepare a talk 
of this kind, using either a natural object or taking some 
home helper as the central interest. If a group is working 
together, these talks should be compared and discussed, find- 
ing, if possible, what is good and what is poor about them. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

In what two ways should a teacher of Beginners use natural 
objects? 

On what will the use of natural objects in teaching depend? 

What was the moral value, of the kindergarten work as 
reported in this lesson? Do you find more than one value? 



LESSON XIX 
THE WISE AND UNWISE USE OF PICTURES 

Everyone realizes the interest of a child in a picture. It 
may be said to come between things and words. First comes 
the object, then that which represents it — the picture — and 
then the words which explain it. An appeal to the eye is 
far more effective than an appeal only to the ear. A deeper 
impression is made by what is seen than by what is heard. 

i. The value of pictures in Sunday school teaching. A 
picture has two principal uses in Sunday school teaching. It 
may aid in understanding a story, or it may have a suggestive 
and silent influence as it hangs on the wall. Of recent years 
pictures have been used quite generally for the first purpose; 
the second has not been appreciated as much as it needs to 
be. One or two beautiful pictures placed where little chil- 
dren can drink in their beauty and truth, little by little, will 
have an influence that cannot be measured. One realizes 
this through an experience of repeated observations of chil- 
dren when given such an opportunity. But it may be only 
now and then that they will pay any heed; at times they 
will very likely seem quite indifferent. Their interest in 
and love for a picture may depend on its first presentation, 
and the association with it, perhaps, of some loved story. 
Or interest and tender feeling may come simply from what a 
child interprets to himself as he looks at a picture again and 
again. 

2. The choice of pictures. Of course the right kind of 
picture must be selected, as must the right kind of story. 
Discrimination is needed. A thing beautiful in itself may 
not be at all beautiful to a child. Pictures for little children 
should represent that of which they know something. They 
should have action in them rather than description. They 

113 



ii4 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

should be simple, strong, and clear, without much detail. 
They should always tell a story, and it should be one that 
a child can discover at least in part for himself. One of the 
choice Madonna and Child pictures, of which there are 
many by the great masters, is eminently suitable for a 
Beginners' room. They speak of mother love and the repose 
of the little one in that love. Any three-year-old seeing such 
a picture will say, "Mamma and baby," with no suggestion 
from anyone. If the story of the Christ-child is told in 
relation to it, it has an added significance. After hearing 
the Christmas story, a little one can see in the picture of 
"The Holy Night," for example, much that he has heard. 
He will point to the mother and babe, and to the "grandpa" 
who has come to see the baby Jesus. After telling the 
Bible story no word is needed when Plockhorst's picture of 
"Jesus and the Children" is unveiled before a group. Very 
gently one and another may come near and point out the 
person in the picture he likes most to see. Of this type of 
picture these three will be sufficient to place upon the walls 
for some months. They should be hung, if possible, near the 
level of the children's eyes, so that they can be seen with 
satisfaction. 

A good picture in black and white is better than a poorly 
colored one. There are very few inexpensive colored pictures 
that are desirable. Among kindergarten pictures there are 
three that are delicately colored and very suggestive, that 
may be used in Sunday school with nature and home stories 
at a fitting time. Two belong to a series of "Sense Pictures" 
and are entitled "Sound" and "Smell," and the other is one 
of the "Nursery Rhyme Pictures," called "Hush-a-by-Baby 
on the Tree Top." 

The child's care of animals and love of animals and birds 
makes good pictures of these subjects very desirable. Some 
of the best are "Feeding the Chickens," Millet ; "Play Days in 
Holland," Charlet; "St. John and the Lamb," Murillo; and 
"Feeding Her Birds," Millet. 

A series of pictures about nine by twelve inches has been 



THE WISE AND UNWISE USE OF PICTURES 115 

provided for use with the Beginners series of the Interna- 
tional Graded Lessons. Some of these pictures are beautifully 
colored, and they make a strong appeal to a child's interest in 
connection with the lesson for which they are intended to 
be used. Each is a separate picture, so that when mounted 
they can be used by the teacher in teaching the lessons and 
be handled by the children. The soft brown Perry Pic- 
tures of the "Boston Edition/' size ten by twelve inches, or 
those twenty-two by twenty-eight inches, are also especially 
pleasing for inexpensive wall pictures. The "picture rolls" 
that have been used with the International Uniform Lessons 
cannot be recommended. They are often poor in coloring 
and form, untrue to Oriental manners and customs, and there- 
fore misleading both to teachers and children, and are fre- 
quently of subjects which little children had better not see. 
Wherever any teacher is compelled to use these lessons with 
children under six years of age it will be wise not to use 
the picture roll. 

3. Pictures illustrative of stories. Many pictures may 
serve for immediate illustrative purposes that will not have a 
permanent value for wall use. If an object cannot be obtained 
in relation to a story, a picture will be useful in its place. 

4. The use of the blackboard. To make a picture on the 
blackboard (or on a sheet of manila paper) is sometimes 
helpful in the development of a story, if the subject needs 
it, and a teacher can draw rapidly and well. Very simple 
drawings are best. But for a teacher to attempt to represent 
figures if she is not something of an artist is a mistake, for 
they are apt to be grotesque and ludicrous. It is better to 
make three straight marks for three men than to try and 
draw these, if one does not know how. Such crude repre- 
sentations are accepted by little children, in fact, they may be 
thus encouraged to make illustrative drawings themselves. 
Elaborate drawings hinder rather than help them. At first 
a horizontal line satisfies them for a road, a vertical line 
for a post, a tree, or a man, as the case may be. A simple 
little sketch already drawn and hidden from view — by per- 



n6 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

haps a sheet of paper — until the moment in the story when 
it is needed may be occasionally helpful. 

WHERE TO OBTAIN PICTURES 

Pictures for use with the International Graded Lessons, 
Beginners' Course. For use with the first year lessons, there 
are thirty-eight pictures; for the second year lessons, forty- 
four, size 9^x12^ inches. The full set for either year 
$2.00. Published by The Methodist Book Concern. 

Good picture prints may be secured for one cent and for 
half a cent each from the following three companies. Send 
for catalogues and order by the number assigned to each 
sub j ect : 

The Perry Picture Co., Maiden, Mass. ; The Brown Com- 
pany, Beverly, Mass. ; Wilde & Co., Boston, Mass. 

The larger pictures furnished by the Perry Company and 
referred to in the text may be purchased for seven cents 
each, for five or more of the 10x12 inches size, and seventy- 
five cents each for the 22x28 inches size. 

The kindergarten pictures referred to are published by the 
Milton Bradley Company, price, fifty and twenty-five cents. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

Why should pictures be used with Beginners? State three 
reasons from the study of the lesson. 

What are the characteristics of a desirable picture for little 
children? 

What is necessary to consider in the use of pictures? 

Think of one value in telling a story with the aid of the 
blackboard. 

If there is no blackboard, and no room for it, what might 
be done instead? 

How will you help a child to preserve the pictures you give 
him? 



LESSON XX 
FORMS OF SELF-ACTIVITY 

In earlier lessons we have learned that it is necessary for 
children to be self-active if they are to grow ; that self- 
activity is just as necessary for growing in goodness as for 
growing physically strong and, therefore, that opportunities 
must be provided for expression in connection with their 
Sunday school work. To show how this may be done is the 
purpose of this lesson. 

i. Word expression. Self-expression is possible in many 
ways ; our thought of it must not be limited. Sometimes 
teachers think of handwork as the only means ; sometimes 
both parents and teachers seek for word-expression, as if 
that were the only way for a child to manifest what he has 
gained. The old adage, "Actions speak louder than words," 
needs to be remembered and applied here. 

For a child to make response in words, in connection with 
story or talk, is decidedly worth while, but this must come 
naturally, spontaneously, without forcing and with a gentle 
leading. Such a response is worth more than a repetition of 
words that have been told to him. Can you think of the 
reason why this is so? When a little one does tell what has 
been told to him, it is of more value for him to do this of 
his own accord, in association with something that has 
brought it to mind, than to be urged to it by questions as to 
what he has learned. Can you give any reason showing that 
this statement is true? Is it better for a child to tell what 
has been told to him in his own words, or in the better form 
of the teacher's words, or, it may be of a Bible verse? Can 
he be encouraged to do one or the other by the way we 
teach? If a child will not tell of anything he has been taught, 
is it a proof that he does not know it? 

117 



n8 THE BEGINNERS , WORKER AND WORK 

2. Expression by handwork. Good teachers differ in 
their judgment as to the wisdom of using handwork in Sun- 
day school with Beginners. Those who advocate its use be- 
lieve that this manual expression deepens the impression in 
relation to the story told and the truth to be appreciated. 
Others feel that a little will be better than much of this work 
for five-year-olds, and that with little ones under five it has 
small, if any, value in Sunday school. Why is this? Because 
they can do little to reach any result with tools, such as 
pencils, chalk and clay. These have their value outside of 
Sunday school, just because they are used for the sake of the 
using. Children are absorbed in the process and care little 
for what comes out of it. When we try to relate a definite 
thought with their drawing, for example, it is often beyond 
their power to express it. Therefore, there is no "deepening 
of an impression. ,, If they do express an idea given, it is 
usually of some material detail. This may have a value, 
but it does not deepen the impression of the truth; in fact, 
it often hinders this, because of an absorption in the par- 
ticular detail pictured. The question is, What do we wish 
to impress? Just as an object may illustrate itself and not 
the lesson it is meant to illustrate, so handwork may em- 
phasize something that excludes any attention to the more 
important truth that, under other conditions, would be just 
as interesting. This may be true in its use with older chil- 
dren, but the younger the children are, the truer it is. Hand- 
work is a better medium of expression for Primary children 
than for Beginners; in fact, it is for them one of the best, 
but there should be always a discriminating use of it. Think 
of what may be done with Beginners; make a comparative 
study of the different possibilities, then see how much time 
there is in Sunday school for the many good things, and 
use the time to the best advantage. Sewing of outline pic- 
tures is discarded in many week-day kindergartens, and it 
needs to be set aside still more in Sunday kindergartens. 
The free-hand illustrative drawing of a single leading fact 
in certain stories is worth while for the older Beginners; 



FORMS OF SELF-ACTIVITY 119 

for example, "The father and mother birds made a nest for 
their babies." Do not set a picture before them to copy, or 
assist in developing their pictures. Let them be original 
illustrations, either on the blackboard or their individual 
papers. When serial drawing is done on a blackboard, and 
each person has a part to do in making a series of objects 
to form one picture that tells one story, of course the teacher 
may contribute some part that the children cannot draw. It 
is best to do this kind of work with a small group of not 
more than six or eight little ones. Sometimes an outline 
picture may be colored, but this is nice work to do at home, 
in relation to the Sunday school. It may be suggested to 
both parents and children at a good opportunity. The use of 
clay is inadvisable in Sunday school, in consideration of both 
time and place. The sand-tray is distracting and of little 
value here. The right kind of stories do not need it and the 
free play possibilities in sand, so valuable in home and in 
week-day kindergarten, have no place in Sunday school. The 
illustrative work to be done in the sand-tray is much more 
advantageous for the child of ten to twelve years studying 
biblical geography than for the child of four to six years 
in the Beginners' Department. The very best handwork for 
these little people is the careful mounting, now and then, of 
pictures that are related to the stories, such as the Perry 
or Brown pictures (see lesson on pictures). A half-dozen- 
page booklet made, it may be, from heavy manila paper by 
the teacher, with pictures of the Jesus stories placed in it by 
the child, as the stories are told from time to time, will be 
a great treasure to take home. At the bottom of each picture 
may be lettered by the teacher some sentence connected with 
it. Have a good library paste — and direct children to use 
a very little on the pasting sticks — toothpicks will serve for 
this purpose — and to place it near the edge of pictures or 
only at the corners. When the International Graded Les- 
sons are used and the folders are taken home Sunday by 
Sunday, the children should be urged to tie them together 
and make a book. This is good home work. The additional 



120 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

book here described may be occasionally made in Sunday 
school. 

3. Expression through representation. W r e have pre- 
viously noted a young child's interest in representation and 
personification. This is the beginning of the interest in 
dramatic expression, which in its full sense is evident later. 
First, a child represents by means of things and his own 
action on these, as, for instance, in his use of his father's 
cane for a hobby-horse; later on he begins to personify by 
being himself the character he wishes, at first, of course, in 
a very simple and crude way. As an illustration, a little child's 
playing "doggie" may come to some minds. He assumes the 
character, not through what he is or looks like, but by what 
he does. This is the difference between the personification 
of younger and older children. The little one will be 
"mother," if she has a dolly to put to sleep; the older one 
will wish to have mother's dress and all the accessories, and 
the imitation will be more than of the simple action, it will 
be of the person. Used wisely, this delight in representation 
may be utilized in Sunday school, especially where moral 
qualities are suggested through simple dramatic expression, 
as, for example, when the children are themselves sunbeams 
and shine in dark corners; when they are parent birds caring 
for little birds, or when they may be chosen to represent 
father and mother in their own homes, with such a song as, 

"Loving mother, kind and true, 
Busy father, he works too." 

Generally, this sort of expression can be carried out only 
where the Beginners are in a room by themselves, and are 
led by a discerning teacher who will know how to guide, 
and yet will not introduce all sorts of kindergarten games. 
She who is not a trained kindergartner may learn what to do 
by careful observation in a good week-day kindergarten. 
But it will be better not to use this method of expression 
unless it can be done naturally. 

4. Representative motions. The representation of 



FORMS OF SELF-ACTIVITY 121 

motions, such as the ringing of the church bells, the falling 
rain or snow, and the swaying of the trees, have been fre- 
quently used in Sunday school. For physical exercise or 
for rest they should not be needed in a brief hour session 
if conditions are right. But as an expression of the idea 
presented in song or story they may well be used, if in the 
right way. And the right way is not at the same time as 
singing or attempting to sing. A successful combination is 
well nigh impossible, and if tried it will be seen that almost 
all the children are doing one thing or the other. Very 
often the little ones are absorbed in either the singing or 
the motion, and if they succeed in carrying out both, one 
or the other becomes mechanical. 

Do you think the truth in the following song would be 
made more real by some action by a few children, while 
the rest sing? 

"Children, what do the blossoms say, 

Down in the garden walk? 
They nod and bend in the twilight gray, 
Say, can you hear them talk? 

"They say, 'O darling children bright, 
We're going to sleep, good night, good night, 
The gentle breezes have come to sing 
How God takes care of everything/ " 

A variety of action should be planned for, even if it refers 
only to movement, for example, groups going to the piano 
to sing, or some of the children standing, while others form 
"the choir'* going in twos and threes to see a picture on the 
wall, perhaps, and coming back to the circle to tell what was 
seen. All these things give opportunity for and encourage 
self-expression. It is this variety that causes a rest because 
it is change, and so it is not necessary to do anything directly 
for that purpose. After these things comes the rest of sitting 
quietly for an eight or ten-minute story period. Usually at 
the end something will be done that will be a relaxation from 



122 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

any strain of attention, for example, singing a song, acting 
out the story, going to see something in the room, the church 
or garden, or pasting a picture. It is very necessary to re- 
member that little children cannot attend to one thing very 
long and they should not be overtaxed. 

5. Expression through helping. One of the best ways of 
using the children's self-activity is to let them all do as much 
for themselves and each other as they possibly can, and to 
plan ways in which they may be of service in the room. 
Before Sunday school begins different ones may assist in 
getting needed material, in arranging chairs, or under guid- 
ance they may water the plants, or fill a vase with water 
for flowers. In turn they may be asked to bring flowers for 
the room. The older ones may assist the younger in taking 
off hats and coats. Instead of the teachers distributing pic- 
ture papers or materials, one or two children may be ap- 
pointed to do it. There are many little things, such, for 
example, as getting the contribution basket, that a teacher 
is tempted to do herself until she realizes how much better 
it is for a child to do it. The spirit of cooperation and 
thoughtfulness grows in this way. Some of these things can 
be done where there are only three or four children in the 
group and it meets in a corner of the church. Activities 
for others outside of the group and the room will be con- 
sidered in the next lesson. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

Make a list of different kinds of self-expression. 

W T hat is likely to be true when little children do handwork? 

What kinds of work may be used to best advantage in 
Sunday school? 

What is the difference between the representations of 
younger and older children? 

Make a summary of the many ways in which self -activity 
may be utilized in Sunday school. 



LESSON XXI 
THE OFFERING IN THE BEGINNERS* DEPARTMENT 

Many little children have no idea why they take money to 
Sunday school. All that is evident is that they like to "give 
it to teacher" or to drop it in the basket because "all the 
children do." For them to know the reason of much that 
they do is quite unnecessary, but this is an instance where 
they need to understand the purpose, or the offering is use- 
less so far as they are concerned. In the minds of teachers 
there is one of two reasons, and sometimes both, for this 
custom. Some think of the good to be accomplished — the 
cause to be helped by the money that is given, and they seek 
to make the amount as large as possible. Others think of 
training the children in being Christians, and find in the 
offering one means for doing this. Many teachers when 
questioned would say that they follow this plan for the sake 
of helping missionary work and also for teaching the chil- 
dren to give. 

Let the student consider these questions : Why are little 
children encouraged to bring money to Sunday school? Why 
as teachers do we plan for an offering? Is money the best 
sort of gift for little children to make? Is there any value 
in a child's carrying a coin from his father's pocket to the 
Beginners' contribution basket? 

So long as the general aim and purpose of the Sunday 
school is to train in right living, everything that is done 
should conduce to that end, and "teaching the children to 
give" is for this reason the primary consideration. The cause 
for which the money is given should have a secondary or 
subordinate place in any planning. With this point in view, 
our plans will be very different from what they are in some 
schools. 

123 



124 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

i. Doing for others. The interest of the children must 
be awakened in doing something for some one. The begin- 
nings of Christian training will include the beginning of mis- 
sionary training. But that does not mean necessarily giving 
to so-called "missionary objects." Three things must be con- 
sidered : What is near to the children ? What is naturally 
a part of their experience? About what can they be active? 
Little deeds of kindness are missionary work for little people. 
We must not expect them to be altruistic, as their older 
brothers and sisters may be, but their sympathies are quickly 
touched and action is healthful. They like "to help," for the 
sake of doing something and for companionship, more than be- 
cause of any thought of the other's need. And yet at times 
the latter is very beautifully and spontaneously shown. To 
foster a desire to help is the thing to do. Imagine a group 
of Beginners coming to Sunday school for the first time. 
The bringing of money should not be suggested at first. 
There is something better for them to give, something that 
is more really their own. But even for that they are not 
ready. It may take weeks to foster a desire. Being helpful 
will be practiced first in the Sunday school toward the 
teacher and all the other children, as was suggested in the 
last lesson. Through conversation and story, suggestions 
may be made as to helping father and mother at home, not 
in a general way only, but as regards some definite acts. To 
fetch father's slippers and to get mother's thimble are deeds 
of love, real missionary offerings. 

There comes a day when one of the group is ill. And the 
teacher says, "Would it not be nice to send Nellie our flowers 
that are on the piano?" Two children who live near Nellie 
are trusted to take these to the door, for an older sister 
accompanies them. Another day the minister comes to see 
the Beginners, and after he has gone the question is asked, 
"Would you like to give the pastor our flowers?" At the 
close of Sunday school the teacher takes two children to go 
in search of the minister. These gifts, of course, may not be 
really the children's, but they should be led to feel ownership 



OFFERING IN BEGINNERS' DEPARTMENT 125 

in their little corner, and this is one way of cultivating that, 
and also of leading them to think of others. At another time 
the teacher guides them to make a gift that is their own. 
She tells a story of a child, sick in the hospital a few blocks 
away. "Next Sunday could you bring something for Jane, 
that mother would like to have you give her? Perhaps you 
have a picture, or some pretty shells that some of you brought 
from the seashore, that you could put in a little box, or, 
perhaps, you can save an orange." The teacher takes the 
trouble to write a postal card to each mother telling just 
what has been proposed, and expresses the hope that each 
child may be allowed to do something himself, the mother 
only reminding and guiding. About half the children respond 
and fulfill the plan. It is very beautiful to see them the next 
Sunday carry their gifts one by one to a little table in the 
center of the circle (this serves as an object lesson to the 
other children) and then all pray: 

"We bring these gifts, our Father, for one of thy children 
who is ill. May they help to make Jane quite well." 

2. United giving. The next step is to seek united gift- 
making by all bringing the same thing; for example, every 
child is asked to bring one potato and one apple at Thanks- 
giving time, as "a gift from us all," after hearing of a mother 
and children who have none. At another time of year all 
are asked to bring one picture each. The teacher holds up a 
scrapbook that is "just waiting for some pretty pictures for 
a little lame boy who can't run about." The next Sunday each 
child who has brought a picture is given time to paste it in the 
book, under the guidance of a teacher. A photograph of the 
boy is placed on the wall : "This is Carl, who likes pictures." 
It is well for the Beginners' Department or class to do some- 
thing for the next older children, or for the school as a 
whole, if all meet together. An interchange between de- 
partments is most helpful, as it creates a family feeling and 
a sense of belonging to the whole. If the Beginners have one 
large picture, they might loan it to the Primary Department 
for two or three Sundays, or at Christmas time they might 



126 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

make such a gift, if their group is a large one, and they bring 
pennies to Sunday school. Some little children in the coun- 
try went with their teacher and gathered buttercups for the 
superintendent's desk, and again for the pastor and the church. 

3. The giving of money. When children have been in 
Sunday school for some time they may be ready to bring 
offerings of money for some definite purpose, with which 
they have been made acquainted. This should be something 
they can fully appreciate, and its fitness will vary accord- 
ing to the particular group and the locality of the Sunday 
school. If there is an orphans' home near by, or a day nursery, 
or a kindergarten for children poorer than themselves, some- 
thing nice can be planned for any one of these. There may 
be a Home for aged grandmothers that will be of interest. 
If the Sunday school is in the country, and there is in the 
parish one "shut in" grandmother, she may be made happy 
just as much as those in a Home. If the children live in a 
suburb, and have ridden on the cars to the city, they will 
quickly understand that some children living there have never 
played on the grass, and will be eager to have them go for 
a visit in the country. A picture poster showing these differ- 
ent interests will be of help. First one picture and then an- 
other may be added, as the gifts are made to different per- 
sons. Everything that is done should be made real to the 
children, and they should have a hand in it, whenever it is 
possible — wrapping gifts, carrying them, if they are to go 
near by, or seeing the box in which they are to be sent, if 
going some distance. How one group did enjoy seeing the 
baby clothes that their pennies had bought for a one-year-old 
Alice whose picture they had seen, and who did not have 
a mother to make any clothes for her ! 

4. The word offering. Does the word "offering" suggest 
more to a teacher than the word "contribution'' or "collec- 
tion"? If so, of what does it speak? With these little chil- 
dren it will not be necessary to use any one of these words, 
but to speak simply of gifts. If, however, one is used, let 
them grow familiar with the term "offering," which may well 



OFFERING IN BEGINNERS' DEPARTMENT 127 

be made use of also in the other departments of the school. 
The bringing of gifts needs to be associated with worship, 
and the offering has a natural connection with many of the 
Bible stories. As the children grow older it may have a very 
beautiful significance; any deed of love is an offering, not 
only to the one to whom it is given, but to Him who said, 
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of these my brethren, 
ye have done it unto me" (Matt. 25. 40). Even young chil- 
dren may know the words, "Bring an offering, and come into 
his courts" (Psa. 96. 8). 

5. Receiving the offering. There are several ways of 
taking up the offering and variety of action adds interest. 
Sometimes, a little box or basket is placed in the center of 
the circle, and the children go, one by one, to drop in their 
pennies, or one child (perhaps two, if there are two baskets, 
and the circle is large) passes the basket to gather up the 
gifts. Again, the children may march around and drop in 
their money, as the teacher or some child holds the basket. 
March music is desirable with the last plan, and some soft, 
pretty piece when the others are used. If a song about giv- 
ing is sung, it is best to do this before or after one of these 
plans. A good offertory song for little children is much 
needed. In some that are used there is danger of uninten- 
tional misrepresentation, and consequent misunderstanding 
because children are very literal. For instance, when the fol- 
lowing is said or sung, there is a likelihood of confusion. 

"So we bring our offerings to Jesus, 
And cheerfully give them to-day; 
When placed in his hand for a blessing, 
They'll comfort some child far away." 

Or, when that overused, outworn jingle is sung, beginning, 
"Hear the pennies dropping" and ending, "He will get them 
all," there is a possible untruth from the standpoint of the 
children's way of thinking, for, as a child says, "He doesn't 
get 'em !" It is well to have a short and very specific prayer 
after the bringing of gifts, such as the one suggested earlier 



128 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

in the lesson, or, "We thank thee for our apples and potatoes ; 
make us glad to give some to the mother and children who 
have not any," or, "For thy gifts, our Father, we thank thee; 
help us to share our good things." 

5. Birthday gifts. As soon as the little ones are in the 
habit of bringing money offerings, a very pleasant custom 
may be established in relation to birthdays. The child who 
has had a birthday brings on the following Sunday as many 
pennies as he is years old. These may be used for the 
immediate purpose in which the group is interested at the 
time, or they may go into a "birthday bank," to be used in 
some special way at Christmas, or at some other season. 
There are advantages and disadvantages in the last plan. 
Christmas is so far away from some birthdays many children 
do not realize then that their pennies are in the bank. On 
the other hand, this fund gives them an opportunity to make 
a gift at Christmas time, which otherwise they could not do. 
The recognition of the birthdays in other ways will be con- 
sidered in the lesson on "Special Days." 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

What should be the first consideration in any offering? 
How should the teacher be guided in choosing objects to 
which little children shall give? 
What would you include in missionary work for them? 



LESSON XXII 
CONTROLLING YOUNG CHILDREN 

Phillips Brooks has shown how freedom is the natural out- 
come of the law of liberty, 1 how when a person yields to that 
law and becomes himself a part of it, he is free and full of 
joy; when he opposes and resists it he feels restraint. Of 
course such a yielding in its fullness can come only with the 
growth of years, but before a child comes to the period of 
the strongest self-assertion — when there must be inevitably 
more or less struggle — he may be guided usually to a happy 
acquiescence in "what we all do." Control that is not seen nor 
consciously felt and yet is a quiet force, keeping a happy 
balance that issues in obedience to law and in freedom, is the 
ideal toward which to work. Individuality is not so strongly 
marked at three or four years as it will be later, and the 
child of this age is still largely one with his social environ- 
ment, if it be natural and right. Rebellion generally comes 
when the environment — including requirements — is all wrong. 
While not lessening the truth of the old saying, "If you are 
good you will be happy," the kindergartner has proven an- 
other, "If he is happy, he will be good." Besides all this, 
it is well to think of the words of a leading educator, "If 
a child never cries in your kindergarten, I do not wish to 
send my child there." It will not do, either, to make it al- 
ways perfectly easy for a child to be good. Previous studies 
have shown that we must give opportunity for effort on his 
part. 

i. In the Beginners' room. Seek to apply these principles 
to the Beginners' Sunday school. What sort of an environ- 
ment is necessary? What sort of control will then be needed? 
Why is a kindergarten where a child never cries undesir- 
1 The Candle of the Lord and other Sermons. The Law of Liberty. 
129 



130 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

able? Can you imagine a home where a child never cries? 
In the Sunday school, control will be easier and more natural 
if there is the right atmosphere, literally and figuratively. 
Little children will be restless, noisy and often disobedient 
when a room is full of bad air or is overheated. Proper 
ventilation assists control. A restful atmosphere is found in 
an orderly, pleasing arrangement of the furnishings and 
decorations. If it is possible to have neutral tints of color 
on the walls and to do away with brilliant combinations, the 
general order and spirit of the children is likely to be better. 
An untidy room is apt to have a disturbing effect; so also 
is a crowded room and overmuch decoration. In a certain 
room, good in itself, were strung chains of paper of all the 
colors of the rainbow that gave a gala effect suitable for a 
party but not at all conducive to a spirit of reverence. In 
another the artistic arrangement of plants, pictures, and work 
of the children had a good effect on the little ones, of which 
they were not conscious. Observation, and if anyone pleases, 
a direct test for some weeks, will prove the truth of what 
has been said. 

2. Music a means of control. Music is an effective means 
of control, as indicated in the lesson on "Little Children 
Singing." Spirited music may attract the attention of a 
group which is noisy before Sunday school begins ; sweet 
and gentle music following will have a quieting influence. Chil- 
dren can be trained to obey the call of the piano and will 
respond to it more readily than they will heed the human 
voice. One Sunday will differ very much from another as 
regards the need of a controlling influence; a group that 
usually responds easily and happily may be on some particular 
day altogether upset. The moods of little children vary 
very much, as is evidenced by the fact that they turn sud- 
denly from smiles to tears and vice versa. They are "sensi- 
tive plants" and are affected by each other, by the weather, 
by the conditions of a room, by the kind of music, and last, 
but not least, by the temper and attitude of the leader. 

3. The teacher who controls. A calm, gentle, but strong 



CONTROLLING YOUNG CHILDREN 131 

personality controls usually with few words and little so- 
called "discipline." It is remarkable how sometimes the quiet 
person, who is also bright, can win what a more vigorous 
nature will never gain. A loud, harsh, irritated voice will do 
more harm than good. It may bring a temporary quiet, 
but results in no permanent value, and often noise creates 
noise. An excited, even though pleasant manner is un- 
desirable. A good, earnest, but very energetic and impulsive 
woman, lacking a calm and gentle spirit, once had charge of 
a Beginners' Department. A discerning mother spoke her 
mind to the superintendent : "She gives me such a feeling of 
restlessness I don't wonder the children are not reverent. 
I wish my boy might be under some better spiritual influence." 
This mother had discovered what many fail to appreciate, 
the power of the teacher to make or mar a reverent atmos- 
phere. 

4. Direction more than restraint. The leader needs to 
direct the activities of the children rather than to restrain 
or repress them. Occasionally restraint — a holding back — - 
will be wise, but if the children are continually conscious of 
this, it will be irksome and cause dislike and perhaps rebel- 
lion. A constant repression is unnatural and harmful. Chil- 
dren do wrong often because there is no channel provided for 
the rightful exercise of their activity. Trouble may be saved 
by a wise foresight of what is needed by the group or by an 
individual child. A wise arrangement as to the seating of the 
children will also save possible trouble. Managing children 
is an art. They will conform and respond to what is desired, 
at least in many instances, according to the way it is asked 
or expected. 

5. Discipline for a child's own good. But the best of 
plans will not always work. There are exceptions to every 
rule, and under the most desirable conditions there will come 
times of disobedience, disorder, and wrongdoing. Control 
must be exercised on the negative side. To allow one child, 
or more, to continue in irreverence and disobedience is not 
only a failure to do good, but an absolute wrong to the child 



i 3 2 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

and a harm to the rest who are behaving well. Turn back 
in thought to the lesson on cultivating a spirit of obedience 
and think of the danger of letting a habit of disobedience 
grow. Every time anyone disobeys, it is made more easy 
for him to do it again. Whatever is right in the week-day 
kindergarten in the way of discipline is right in the Beginners' 
Sunday school. If punishment is never needed, it must be 
an unnatural place. Can we imagine a home without disci- 
pline? The great consideration is to find means of discipline 
that meet the individual needs and that will be a means of 
good. Sometimes a kindergartner will set an unmanageable 
child apart from the rest and do it so frequently that he cares 
nothing about the isolation. Be sure of one thing : no punish- 
ment should be given which a child does not mind. Of 
course there may be an apparent "don't care," and to dis- 
criminate between the two requires a keen insight. Elizabeth 
Harrison has well said, "Punishments, rightly considered, are 
not merely an atonement for offenses committed, but they 
show the nature of the offense and help the individual to 
build up the law within, and thereby avoid repeating the 
misdeed. The child must be led from the unconscious to 
the conscious choosing of such lines of conduct as he is to 
pursue. . . . We rob our children of one of the greatest 
aids to self-government and self-control when by any means 
whatsoever we free them from the consequences of their 
wrongdoing." 1 Control with firmness and gentleness combined ; 
ask only what is reasonable for little children, and expect 
that to be fulfilled; if it is not, let some consequence be 
suffered; but be sure you are just, treating all alike and 
fairly. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 

Name six things mentioned in the lesson affecting control. 
What are the characteristics of a teacher who has good 
control ? 
What is the purpose of punishment? 



1 Study of Child Nature, p. 116. 



LESSON XXIII 

SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF A BEGINNERS' 
DEPARTMENT 

As we have stated before, the Beginners' Department should 
be organized and administered as a separate department, 
wholly apart from the other departments of the school. It 
should enroll children of Beginners' age only. If the depart- 
ment numbers more than twelve, one assistant teacher will be 
desirable; if it numbers as many as forty, three assistants 
will be better than one; if there are more than forty chil- 
dren in attendance, it will be wise to have two distinct 
groups with a teacher in charge of each, just as in large 
public schools there are two or more kindergarten classes. 
In this lesson the successful management of a Beginners' 
Department numbering forty to fifty members will be con- 
sidered. Adaptation can be made for smaller or larger groups. 
One thing more in regard to numbers needs to be noted: it 
is not wise for the greatest good to admit more children 
than the room and the seating will comfortably allow; the 
good of the majority rather than the good of an individual 
should be thought of, and it is impossible to give what the 
children need if they are crowded into half of the space they 
should rightfully have. If in a mission school a larger num- 
ber seek entrance than can be accommodated, plan for two 
separate sessions of the Department. 

i. The superintendent and her assistants. There will be 
one head teacher of the Department, called the Beginners' 
superintendent. Others will act as her assistants. It is best 
for these little children to be kept in one group and taught 
by one person. She should have entire control of them and 
be responsible for all that is done; she should have charge 
of the room and all arrangements should be referred to 

133 



134 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

her. Her most important qualifications have been pictured 
in other lessons. Besides being the right sort of person to 
sympathize with and guide little children, she should have 
some executive ability for the management of details, and 
some power to win and guide assistants, so that they shall be 
real helpers. If younger women are with her, there is a 
great opportunity of leading them to an ideal of motherhood, 
and to consecration to a noble service. 

An assistant may well sit with the circle group and co- 
operate in all the service, but she should not attempt any 
control of the children, except as it is asked, nor should she 
be expected to teach. A well-intentioned effort to stop some 
children talking, or to avoid disturbance, often makes more 
than the original trouble. With wisdom and tact she will 
choose a place to sit that will prevent disturbance, and will 
occasionally see the need of changing her place. She of the 
bright eyes and tactful sense will quickly note the incoming 
of a stranger, a late child, or an adult visitor and will see 
them to their rightful places. She will be on the alert to do 
the needful thing without making any noise about it. A real 
aptness is necessary on the part of an assistant for doing 
little things well. 

If three assistants are selected, each should be delegated 
to particular duties. One will be the pianist, another can act 
as secretary and treasurer, and the third have charge of the 
materials and of the place where hats and coats are left, 
besides all three cooperating in the interest of the hour. One 
essential characteristic of an assistant is that she be reliable. 
If a young girl can be depended on, is earnest and interested, 
she may develop into the right kind of worker more easily 
than an older person. 

2. The pianist. Besides being a children's musician, as 
emphasized in the lesson on singing, the pianist should assist 
the leader by the needed expression from the piano at the 
right moment, by practicing with the assistants the new 
songs, by being present to play before the beginning of the 
session and by having charge of the music books. She should 



SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT 135 

be one who has a real sympathy with every part of the work, 
remembering that the music is a part, and all must be 
unified. 

3. Administrative detail. The records of the Beginners' 
Department should include, first, a record of new pupils, to 
be filled out by parents. Enrollment blanks suitable for this 
purpose should provide space for the name of the child, name 
of parents, parents' church membership, address, age, birth- 
day, date of entering the department, class assignment (first 
or second year), and miscellaneous information. This in- 
formation should be kept on file, either in a book or on cards. 
Second, a record of attendance should be kept, the record 
to be made quietly by the secretary or a helper, without roll 
call. To aid prompt and regular attendance the names may 
be placed on a sheet of cardboard, with spaces opposite each 
name. Gilt stars may be attached to indicate attendance, and 
the children who come early may be allowed to place their 
own stars. Third, a record of absentees should be kept, and 
cards with the names of the absent children on them, con- 
taining also spaces for stating the cause of the absence, should 
be put in the hands of those responsible for the absentees. 
Fourth, a record of birthdays is desirable. This enables the 
teacher to mail a birthday letter or card to each child at the 
proper time. Fifth, a visitors' register may be kept for all 
those who come into the department from time to time. 

The Beginners' Department expenses should be met in the 
same way as those of the other departments of the school, 
preferably by the church, the offerings of the Department in 
turn to go to the church and to benevolent causes. A stipu- 
lated allowance for the Department helps the superintendent 
and teachers to plan their expenditures more wisely. 

4. Supply of material. It will be an economy of time, 
trouble, and possibly expense, if an estimate is made of 
materials required for a year or half a year, and the pur- 
chase of the same made at the beginning. In one school a 
certain amount of money was allowed from the Sunday school 
budget to the Beginners' Department. Paper, cardboard,. 



136 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

paste, pencils, and chalk were procured through one firm. 
The closet was stocked with what was necessary, and this 
business disposed of for some months. The superintendent 
should attend to this with the assistant, but the latter may well 
do the mechanical work and get a practical training through 
the assistance given. It should be the latter's duty to see 
that the material needed for each Sunday is taken out and 
placed ready for use, and returned to the closet at the end 
of the session. This closet needs to be kept in order for 
convenience, and also because of the bad effect of untidiness 
upon the children. The person for this work, therefore, needs 
to be orderly, systematic in the management of details, and 
if she assists in the use of materials for decoration, she 
should be one who has an artistic eye for simple and beautiful 
effects. In all that is done the superintendent must be the 
guide, supervisor, and inspirer. While she may appoint cer- 
tain ones to this work and that, it must be in cooperation with 
herself. The best results will come if she have the mother 
spirit with her teachers as well as with her children, and 
if these helpers feel the true family relationship in the work. 
To accomplish it successfully, all will have to meet together 
frequently, to discuss plans and to carry them out. 

5. Hour for the session. If the Beginners meet at the 
same time as the rest of the school, it may be, of course, in 
the morning before church, at noon, or in the afternoon. The 
choice between these depends largely on the conditions of 
the immediate locality and church. From the standpoint of 
the little child, the morning is the best time for Sunday school. 
Immediately after church, if he has sat through a long service, 
is the worst time. In some churches in recent years the 
morning church hour has been used for the Beginners' Sun- 
day school. This has advantages and disadvantages. The 
children are fresh for Sunday school and more time can 
be devoted to it. They are saved from the long sermon, their 
parents are free to enjoy it, and they can go from home and 
back with those parents who attend church. The disad- 
vantages are that the family is separated during the church 



SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT 137 

service, the children have no experience of church attendance, 
and their teachers are prevented from any participation. 
The more ideal way has been practically fulfilled here and 
there. It is to have the little ones present at church with 
their parents for the opening service, and then by eleven 
o'clock to have a processional, when children and teachers 
quietly pass to the Sunday school room. Those who do not 
attend church go directly to the Beginners' session. This plan 
has all the advantages of the one previously described, except 
that of time, and it overcomes some of the disadvantages. 
Its distinctive value is the relationship of the children, as 
part of the church family, to its worship, while it saves them 
from a portion which they cannot enter into or understand. 
Of course, in churches where the rooms are so near that the 
children would disturb the church service, either of these 
plans would be undesirable. 

6. Relationship with the whole school. The family feel- 
ing of both church and school needs to be cultivated. The 
little ones should be led to feel that they belong to a larger 
whole. One way of doing this is to have them join the 
larger school on special occasions. An objection to separate 
departments and graded lessons has been made on the basis 
that the unity of the whole was thereby broken. Undoubtedly 
in some places there has been a loss of esprit de corps under 
new methods, but that is because they have not been rightly 
carried out. While uniformity has gone, unity should be 
kept. If the Beginners do meet before the rest of the school, 
they can be kept occasionally to pass into the large room for 
a few minutes of the opening service, in which they should 
then have some share; and in services for special days (aside 
from the Sunday school hour), such as those at Christmas 
and Easter, they should, of course, join. For the good of the 
whole, teachers of the younger departments need to feel 
that they belong to the school and should be loyal to it, work- 
ing for its good, with the same interest as for their own 
work. To do this to the best advantage some intelligent 
knowledge of what is being done in other departments is 



138 THE BEGINNERS* WORKER AND WORK 

needed, with an understanding of the lessons to be taught 
and the aims to be realized in the next higher department. 
Specialization is dangerous when it means that the teacher 
of little children cares only to know child life under six 
years. Imagine a gardener who pays heed to the first sprout- 
ing tendrils, and to the roots that go down into the ground, 
but is indifferent to the beauty of the after-growth! The 
truest teacher is the one who cares so much for her children 
that she knows what should happen after her work with 
them is done, watches to see what does happen, and keeps 
an interest in them as they come to the years for definite 
Christian confession. 

A superintendent managing her own department will be 
subject to the advice of the general superintendent of the 
school and will consult with him. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

What advantages are there in having the Beginners' De- 
partment in session during the latter part of the morning 
church service? 

What is a good plan as regards leadership and assistance 
in the Beginners' Department? 

How may the Beginners be led to feel their relationship 
to the church and the rest of the Sunday school? 



LESSON XXIV 
HOME COOPERATION 

The success of the Beginners' teacher will depend in no 
small measure upon the extent to which she interests and 
secures the cooperation of the parents. The importance of 
cooperation between Sunday school and home cannot be over- 
emphasized. 

i. What one teacher did. One Beginners' teacher who 
attained unusual success attributed it very largely to know- 
ing and winning the interest of the parents of her pupils. 
Through knowing them she became acquainted with the home 
life and the influences which surrounded her little ones. 
She found this of much advantage in her teaching. Through 
knowing the parents she gained their help. Through know- 
ing her they learned of her aim and effort, as otherwise 
would have been impossible. She was too busy during the 
week to visit some twenty homes early in the year, but 
when Sunday school opened in the autumn letters were writ- 
ten by her and her assistants, asking three things: (i) That 
the parents would visit the Sunday school; (2) that as 
opportunity offered, they would introduce themselves to her 
if not already acquainted; (3) that they would fill out the 
inclosed blank. On this report blank spaces were left opposite 
the following hectographed words: Name? Age? Date of 
birth? Address? Father's first name? Occupation of father? 
Parents, attendants of church? Members of church? Any 
other member of family a Sunday school attendant? The 
letter ended with the expression of a wish to help the children 
as much as possible, and to do this the cooperation of every 
father and mother would be needed. In the second month an 
invitation was sent to each mother to attend an "Afternoon 
Tea" in the Sunday school room. Half an hour was spent 
socially, and half an hour was used by the teacher in telling 
of her plan of work for the fall term and what she hoped 

139 



140 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

to do; also, in showing how the mothers could help to 
accomplish this. 

2. A variety of plans. With different groups of parents 
these things would have to be done differently. Of course 
in a mission school neither the first nor the second could 
be carried out just as they are described here. A simple form 
of letter for a school of this kind would be : "Sunday school 
begins next Sunday. We hope William will come promptly 
at two-thirty o'clock and we shall be glad if his father and 
mother can come too." In what ways, if any, could the 
suggested report blank be simplified? In some communities 
the name, "Afternoon Tea" would bring out a larger number 
of mothers than to ask them to come simply to a mothers' 
meeting. In many churches it would be helpful to mothers 
to discuss the religious life of little children; for example, 
illustrations may be given of some of the beautiful prayers 
and hymns that may not be familiar to them. A young mother 
said at one such gathering, "I wish I knew the best wa}' to 
begin to teach my child about God and Jesus." Several others 
asked for prayers that would be best to use. 

The following books will be helpful in preparation for 
mothers' meetings : 

Child Nature and Child Nurture, by St. John. 

As the Twig Is Bent, by Chenery. 

The Dawn of Character, by Mumford. 

The Dawn of Religion in the Mind of the Child, by Alum- 
ford. 

On the Training of Parents, by Ernest H. Abbott. 

How to Know Your Child, by Scott. 

Your Child To-day and To-morrow, by Gruenberg. 

Notebook of an Adopted Mother, by Davids. 

In some cases an evening meeting will be more successful 
than one held in the afternoon. If the mothers are hard- 
working women, inside or outside of the home, they may be 
able to get away better in the evening. To mothers such as 
these, a social evening with helpful suggestions as to home 
training, will sometimes prove a real pleasure. It has been 



HOME COOPERATION 141 

found in some places to be an event looked forward to. If 
occasional meetings can be held for both fathers and mothers, 
more will be accomplished. Quarterly meetings of the 
parents with the teachers will be of more help. In many 
places in connection with the public schools, associations of 
parents and teachers have been formed. If a similar organi- 
zation could be arranged in relation to the Sunday school as 
a whole, or representing one department, and if meetings of 
both Sunday school and public school were held once a month, 
it would mean that parents were giving only a few hours for 
the educational interests of their children. To have an inter- 
change of ideas is worth much. 

3. The development of sympathy and understanding. 
The individual and personal touch of teacher and parent will 
mean more than all else toward the development of sympathy. 
An exchange of visits will give opportunity for a better under- 
standing on both sides. Acquaintance with the parents of an 
individual child and an insight into the home life will reveal 
the cause of certain conditions for which in Sunday school 
perhaps no reason could be found. Time is so limited for the 
desired training that it is necessary to have the assistance of 
the parents from week to week if the best results are to be 
gained. It would be most helpful if, where there is a real Chris- 
tian interest, the home and Sunday school could follow the 
same general plan of instruction. The most practical way for 
this to be carried out at present is to have the hymns and songs 
used in Sunday school taught carefully at home, and for the 
mothers to help the children to do what the teacher has 
asked for, in relation to the stories. A note to the mother 
pinned on to the dress of the little one is the surest way of 
getting the desired result, if a child is to do anything at home, 
or bring anything to Sunday school. In connection with the 
use of the International Graded Lessons, Beginners' Course, 
the mother should read the stories to the children, and carry 
out the suggestions in "The Mother's Part." New pupils 
should be given "Mother's Letter" to carry home. 

4. Securing definite cooperation. Adults, as well as chil- 



142 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

dren, grow interested in a work in and for which they are 
actively doing something. So it is well to think of things which 
different parents may be asked to undertake. A father, who 
was a carpenter, was really pleased to put up shelves for a 
closet in one Sunday school room. A young mother was 
ready and eager to assist at one of the Sunday school parties. 
That was the beginning of her interest. There was a beauti- 
ful Christmas picture in one of the children's homes, and 
both for the sake of having the picture and of interesting the 
parents, the teacher asked if they would loan it. It was 
allowed to remain on the walls of the Beginners' room for 
a month. The father came to see how the teacher was going 
to use the picture and afterward offered to hang it. There 
is an opportunity in this sort of thing that should be borne 
in mind. In homes connected with the larger churches suitable 
pictures may be found that might be loaned for at least a 
single Sunday. In this there would be a double value — the 
use of the picture and the interest of the parents. After 
various plans have been tried, let us not be discouraged if, 
as teachers, we do not get a response from all the parents. 
The cooperation of a few will be worth the effort, for as they 
help us increased opportunity is offered for us to help them, 
and there will be an increased effect for good in the lives 
of the children. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

What would you do to secure the cooperation of the 
parents ? 

How can frankness be tactfully gained between parent and 
teacher ? 

Sum up the possible results from friendship with the 
parents of the children. At least four may be found. 

Apply the principle of the point of contact to a plan for 
a mothers' meeting for an uneducated and hard-working 
group. 

Consider what differences should be made for a company 
of mothers with more education. 



LESSON XXV 
SPECIAL FESTIVAL DAYS 

The Sunday celebrations of the religious festival days 
have been referred to in several lessons. They should be 
especially beautiful in song and story and, rightly, will often 
be the climax of what has been thought of for weeks. A 
special recognition in the way of a little gift will be nice 
for some groups, particularly those whose children come from 
homes where there is little to enjoy. Such a gift may be a 
picture or a pretty card with a suitable verse, and at Easter, 
a small plant or a flower. At Thanksgiving, one group re- 
ceived colored envelopes "to be opened at Thanksgiving 
breakfast," and those children who waited for the opening 
were pleased to find a brightly colored card with the words, 
"Every good gift comes from the Father." 

i. The Sunday school party. We need to think especially 
now of week-day celebrations. Just to have a good time 
with the children, to play games with them now and then, 
will make the Sunday work more successful. A party is 
usually a delight to any child, and to some little children the 
Sunday school party will give what is denied in other ways. 
With any group it should be simple, but pretty and full of 
fun. "Dressing up" should be avoided; there are always 
children who cannot have as dainty clothes as some others, 
and often when "best things" are worn, fun is lessened. To 
those who go to many parties, more elaborate than a Sunday 
school affair could be, and to whom a party has always meant 
ice cream, something on a simpler scale but just as pretty 
makes a pleasant surprise. Memory recalls the delight of 
some little people over individual molds of orange jelly 
surrounded with whipped cream, on a kindergarten table 
that was arranged in yellow. 

2. A Thanksgiving party. If a party is given at Thanks- 
giving time, the offering by the children of fruits and vege- 

143 



144 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

tables, or of things for a dinner, can be better brought then 
than on Sunday. A few minutes may be devoted to packing 
these, with the help of the children, to make real to them 
just what will be done with the gifts. The room decorated 
with autumn leaves, sheaves of corn, and bunches of oats and 
wheat will be attractive. It is a good plan sometimes to 
ask a few Intermediate girls and boys to do this decorating 
"for the little children," or two or three of the young mothers 
may be asked to help. A table in yellow is as good as any 
color for this autumn time and the refreshments may harmon- 
ize. The nicest way is to have the group seated at the 
table for this most important part of the party. Either of 
the following simple blessings is good: 

"Father, thank you for this food, 
Bless us, help us to be good." 
(Tune in Kindergarten and First Grade, April, 1916.) 

"Thou art great and thou art good, 

And we thank thee for this food ; 

By thy hand must we be fed, 

Give us, Lord, our daily bread. Amen." 

(Tune in The Little Child at the Breakfast Table, by William 

and Mary Gannett.) 

Familiar ring games, such as "Drop the Handkerchief," and 
plays of finding a hidden object, or running a race on the 
outside of the circle by two children, starting in opposite 
directions, are more fun than many kindergarten games un- 
familiar probably to a part of any Sunday school group. 
Exception may be made to the so-called sense games of tast- 
ing, smelling, and feeling, when blindfolded, for these are 
likely to be appreciated the first time they are played. Various 
ways of marching, running, and skipping are always of in- 
terest. After the play has continued some time a story that 
cannot have a place on Sunday will be listened to with de- 
light. A few toys in corners of the room will be nice for 



SPECIAL FESTIVAL DAYS 145 

the youngest children who do not care for the games and for 
any of the group when they first come. 

3. A Christmas party. It is always well for the Beginners, 
if they number over twenty-five, to have a Christmas celebra- 
tion separately from the rest of the school. A smaller group 
may join with the Primary Department if that has not more 
than that number. Where there are not more than eight or 
ten children representing both groups, it might be advisable 
to have a Christmas afternoon party for them in some home. 
A Sunday school entertainment for the rest of the school 
is not so fitting either as to time or character for the youngest 
children. 

The Christmas party may be similar to that for Thanks- 
giving. There may be games, stories, and songs with an 
offering for children less fortunate and less well provided 
for than themselves. The games may be those played at the 
Thanksgiving party. The songs should be Christmas carols. 
The stories should be appropriate to the Christmas season. 
There may be one story of the baby born on Christmas day 
and one of little children who kept his birthday by giving 
gifts for his sake. Following the story, the children may 
march with the toys or fruit which they have brought for 
the children in some family or home and place them under 
the Christmas tree. Then may follow the Christmas treat. 

4. The celebration of birthdays. Besides the little birth- 
day service on Sundays that has been referred to in other 
lessons, some teachers may find it possible to make recogni- 
tion of the birthdays in some other way. It may be a tiny 
note delivered by the postman on the day, for getting a letter 
does please a four-year-old and a bright little message of 
love will add more pleasure to the day. But even a note sent 
to each one takes much time, if there are a large number of 
children, so in some cases, a suitable picture card may be 
more advisable. Another plan is that of having a birthday 
party once a quarter, or even once a month, when all the 
birthdays that have come during that time may be celebrated. 
The group of birthday children are given the best places 



146 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

by the others and are allowed to choose the games. At the 
same time they are led to think of entertaining the other 
children in the best way possible, just because they are the 
honored ones. In some schools, where the children come 
from homes in which birthday parties and many other things 
are given, such celebration is not so desirable as in places 
where the coming together in this way will be a bright spot 
in a little life and will be a social opportunity for doing much 
good. The birthday songs to be sung at Sunday school, or 
at the week-day party, are listed with the other songs. 

5. A day in the woods. A day in the woods in the spring 
will have special value for all classes of children, because of 
their love of nature and the opportunity which this presents 
to the Beginners' teacher. It will be of most interest, of 
course, to those who cannot go often or ever to the country. 
To go as a party of little children will be far better than 
just to go to a picnic of the entire Sunday school. If it is 
not possible to take a group to the country, take them to the 
park as the next best thing. This outing could be one of the 
birthday celebrations, if such a plan were being followed. 
The observations made by the way can be utilized in the 
Sunday talks as opportunity offers. 

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENTS 

What is the value of a children's Sunday school party? 

What additional values are there in the Thanksgiving and 
Christmas parties? 

Write in your notebook the characteristics of a three-year- 
old as discovered at a party; of a five-year-old. Make a note 
of all the good points you can find in the kind of Christmas 
party described. 



LESSON XXVI 
THREE GROUPS OF BEGINNERS 

In this last lesson a pen picture will be given of Beginners 
in Sunday school, under very different conditions. One Sun- 
day's work will be described with — (i) A group of Begin- 
ners that forms a department in a large suburban church ; (2) 
a group in a city mission ; (3) a group in a rural church, 
composed of Primary children and Beginners. 

1. Sunday school in a suburban church. I stood at the 
entrance of a Beginners' room a few minutes before the 
Sunday school opened. A few children were looking at some 
picture books lying on a corner table ; two or three were 
seated in the circle of chairs arranged in the center of the 
room. Two of the oldest girls were helping some younger 
ones put their wraps in the dressing room. An assistant 
teacher moved about among the children, asking one and 
another to help her. Two who were not doing anything were 
soon busy with her, watering the window boxes. In a few 
minutes she called two others to carry materials for her. 
Another hung some cards by hooks already placed for them. 
A large card with little gilt stars on it told of the attendance 
of some forty children. Another assistant had charge of 
that, and with her help, each child, as he entered, put a star 
opposite his own name, to which the teacher pointed. 

The leader and a number of children soon came in, and 
the piano was played for five minutes before the time of 
beginning Sunday school. During the music the books were 
put away and the blackboard made clean, and the children 
gradually took their seats in the circle. The playing of a 
chord as "the clock pointed the hour" was the signal for all 
to be quiet, and anyone who came in after that sat in one 
of a row of chairs in the corner of the room until after the 

147 



148 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

first few minutes, when the leader called him to his place. 
Each member had his own chair, and there were some places 
left for those who came now and then, or for newcomers. 
After a second piano signal all arose, and "Good-morning to 
our Sunday school" was sung. Then as the piano played the 
tune of "Father of all, in heaven above," all heads were bowed 
and the prayer was sung very softly. "George" was asked 
to bring a picture of a child that was on a side table, and 
Sallie to get the basket for the offering. It was necessary 
to take up this offering soon so that the hands might be free. 
If any child had brought his offering uncovered it was 
placed in a box when he went to put his star on the attend- 
ance card. Otherwise attention would have been distracted 
from the greeting song and the prayer. A few words fol- 
lowed about three-year-old Edith, a needy child for whom the 
children had been asked to bring gifts — "little things not too 
big to go into the basket." All who had anything to give 
her ran one by one, and put it in the basket. The variety 
of gifts was interesting to see — a marble, a tiny doll, several 
pictures, a stick of candy, a penny, some "buttons for her 
dress" and a hair-ribbon. Then all repeated after the leader, 
"Father in heaven, bless Edith and make her happy," and 
afterward stood and sang, "Our Father sends his blessing 
from above." 1 One of the boys had his birthday pennies, so 
he came and dropped them — one, two, three, four, five — into 
a little jar. As he stood by the teacher the children sang, 

"A birthday song we gaily sing," 2 
and then Miss Jessie prayed, 

"We thank thee, heavenly Father, 

For all the loving care 
That thou hast given James 
At home and everywhere. 



i Second verse of "Bless our Gifts," in The Children's Hour of Story and 
Song, by Sara Bullard Moffatt. 
2 By "J. L. B.," in Primary and Junior Songs for the Sunday School. 



THREE GROUPS OF BEGINNERS 149 

"For five years thou hast guarded him, 
Asleep, at work, at play. 
O Father, love and care for him, 
On this and every day! 

Amen." 1 

Next all were asked to look at the pictures around the room 
and one child could go to the one he liked very much. 
Ernest jumped up quickly and touched the picture of a mother 
dove and "her little ones three." The children sang, 

"Happy as a robin, 
Gentle as a dove, 
That's the sort of little child 
Every one will love." 2 

and one of the assistants sang to them, 

"High up in the old pine tree 
Lived a mother-dove and her little ones three." 3 

It was "Palm Sunday," and the teacher talked for a few 
minutes about the trees and the many ways in which they are 
a help. She let some of the children be trees and each chose 
the way he would like to help : "Make it shady," "Be a home 
for birdies," "Have fire wood," "Have apples." They went 
back to the circle and all were "trees" waving branches for 
a minute or two. 

When they were again seated and very quiet, the teacher 
brought a palm branch from the closet, and said she had a 
story about some little children who had palm branches in 
the country where Jesus lived a long time ago. One Sunday 
something beautiful happened : every one was so glad to see 
Jesus they said, "Let us have a procession as he rides into 
the city." He came riding on a young donkey and the men, 
women, and children took palm branches, and they gathered 

1 By Anna L. Johnson. 

2 By Emilie Poulsson and Laura Collin (adapted from) In Songs for Little 
People. 

8 "Little Doves," in Kindergarten Chimes, author not given. 



i5o THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

around him, singing "Hosanna, Hosanna." That meant 
"Praise him, praise him" and they were happy because Jesus 
had come. (See story in Teacher's Textbook, International 
Graded Lessons, Beginners' Series, if further detail is de- 
sired.) 
The teacher then sang, 

"With joy to-day we march and sing 

And raise our palms on high; 
And to our Saviour praises bring, 

With happy voices cry, 
'Hosanna in the highest, 
Hosanna in the highest, 
To Christ our king V " 

"Now," said the leader, "it is time to say good-by. You may 
come one by one and shake hands to-day, and I will give 
you a picture to take home ; you can see if you know of 
what it tells." (Picture of children carrying palm branches 
as Jesus rides by.) 

2. Sunday school in the city mission. There were thirty 
in the Beginners' class in the mission and only a small 
side room into which they could go, so the teacher seated 
them in a double row around two thirds of a circle. They 
were children of foreign parentage and knew little Eng- 
lish. The room had been made as bright and homelike 
as possible to begin with, and more was to be done later. 
The walls were dirty, but half way up the teacher had covered 
them with a pretty shade of green denim and at the top edge 
she had made a conventional design of red paper poppies, 
having obtained a pattern from a day-school teacher. A 
geranium that stayed at a neighbor's house all the week was 
on the one window sill. 

Miss Blake decided that at first she must teach these chil- 
dren almost altogether by pictures. And if she wanted them 
to know God's love it must be through the best she could 
picture to them of father and mother love in action. So on 
this Sunday we have in mind, Miss Blake had a series of 



THREE GROUPS OF BEGINNERS 151 

pictures. She held up one of mother cat and kittens and 
some of the children named it in Italian, showing by the light 
on their faces that they knew of what the picture spoke. 
She pointed to the big cat and said "Mother" and they knew 
that word. Next, she showed Ovic of a mother hen and 
chickens. The children laughed, and one little girl ran and 
put her finger on the hen and said "Madre" Then Miss 
Blake showed the picture of the "Two Mothers and Their 
Families," by Elizabeth Gardner-Bouguereau, in which there 
are a mother and child and a hen and chickens and said : "Two 
mothers loving," holding up two fingers and putting her arm 
around a child for "loving." Next came the picture "A Wee 
Bit Fractious," which shows a mother with her tired child 
in her arms, and again she said "Mother loving." The last 
picture was of a father and child and the emphasis was on 
father. As this teacher set the pictures down she said, "Chil- 
dren, God loves us, like father and mother." * (They knew 
the word "God"). 
Then very softly she sang, 

"God is loving, this I know, 
For the Bible tells me so," 

holding the Bible in her hand (just the two lines — not the 
whole song or verse). 

3. Sunday school in a rural church. The building was 
an old-fashioned church, with one large audience room. The 
Sunday school session followed the church service. Sufficient 
time was allowed between the two sessions to have the room 
aired, and the attention paid to this was interesting to see : 
some one knew that oxygen was necessary for spiritual 
good. Six little red chairs were placed in a semicircle in 
front of the first bench, for there were six members of the 
school under six years of age, and regularity of attendance 
was encouraged by each having his own chair put in the 
same place for him every Sunday. Some flowers stood on 
a table near the superintendents desk : they had been brought 
by the children. It was the season for daisies, and so each 



152 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

child had been asked for this particular day to bring a few 
from the fields and in this bringing the teacher had shared. 
"Nearer, My God, to Thee" played on the cabinet organ 
suggested to every one that this was the time to be quiet. 
At the end of a few strains, all heads were bowed, while a 
choir of boys sang, 

'The Lord is in his holy temple, 

Let all the earth keep silence before him." 

Then the whole school sang two verses of "For the beauty 
of the earth," the words of which were lettered on a black- 
board for the benefit of the younger children able to read. 
A short and simple prayer of thanksgiving by the superin- 
tendent followed. The flowers that the little ones had 
brought were spoken of, and they sang, 

"I asked the lovely little flower 

Who gave her perfume sweet, 
And dressed her in her velvet coat, 

So beautiful and neat, 
And she told me it was God 

Who cloth'd her with such care 
And taught her how to sweetly breathe 

Upon the evening air." 

Then the six children present that day passed behind a screen 
to a corner of the room, carrying their chairs with them. 

Behind the screen was a space about eight feet square. 
This screen, by the way, had been made as a gift to the 
Sunday school by a young man who had studied manual 
training. Hanging by hinges on the side wall was a board 
one and one half feet wide and six feet long. When this 
was raised and propped at either end it served nicely for a 
table, and stood one and one half feet from the floor. A 
motherly woman was the leader of the little group. She was 
a farmer's wife and had a family of children. To attend 
classes or conventions was out of the question, but by read- 
ing she kept in touch with the best educational thought. 



THREE GROUPS OF BEGINNERS 153 

Because the Beginners were behind the screen they could 
not see what was going on in the rest of the room. Sounds 
did not disturb them, and they gave their whole attention 
to what their teacher said and had for them to do. The 
lesson for the day was "The Sun a Helper," 1 but the teacher 
did not begin with the lesson story. She showed a plant in 
flower and let the children look at and admire it. She asked 
for stories about flowers they had seen, and listened while 
they told her about pussy willows which they had found, 
alder blossoms which they had seen and the new green grass 
growing close beside the doorsteps at home. 

It was necessary for the children to be quiet and not dis- 
turb older members of the school, hence they did not sing, 
"The Alder by the River," suggested in the textbook, but 
drew pictures with colored crayons of green grass blades 
and pussy-willow branches. When the pictures were drawn, 
the teacher led the children to think how all winter long the 
grasses and flowers had been fast asleep waiting for the time 
to wake up. The children were asked to tell what they did 
when they were tired and sleepy and what wakened them 
when it was time to get up. They closed their eyes and made 
believe sleep. To rouse them the teacher recited 

"When I'm softly sleeping 

In the early morn, 
Through my window creeping 

The sunbeams come, new born, 
They gently say good morning, 

Then with golden light 
Peeping through my curtain 

Make my room so bright." 1 

One by one the children opened their eyes and looked around 
to show that they were awake. Next the teacher asked how 
they felt when they stood in the sunshine. The sun was 
shining through the window, and the children went on tiptoe 

1 See Lesson 20 in Beginners' Teacher's Text Book, Second Year, Part III. 



154 THE BEGINNERS' WORKER AND WORK 

to discover how one did feel when standing in the sunlight. 
Having had this experience, it was easy to understand that 
the sun helps to waken grasses and flowers from their 
winter's sleep. By this time the children were ready for the 
story, "The Sun a Helper," and gathered round the teacher 
to listen. At the close of the story the children repeated after 
the teacher the verse, "He maketh his sun to rise," and the 
words of a very simple sentence prayer of thanksgiving for 
the sun. After the prayer the children spent a few moments 
in holding and looking at the picture provided for the 
teacher's use in teaching the lesson. It is a picture of children 
standing in a field of blue flowers and is called "The Blue 
Meadow." They examined the pot of seeds planted there 
weeks before, and when they saw the tiny plants exclaimed, 
"The sun has helped them to grow." To deepen the impres- 
sion of the lesson the teacher gave the children a few more 
seeds to plant in another pot. This second pot the children 
carried to a dark closet where they left it to see whether or 
not the seeds would grow when there was no sun to wake 
and help them. 

At the time for the school to be dismissed the screen was 
removed and the children stood with the older members of 
the school for the closing song and prayer. The folders con- 
taining the lesson story were given the children as they 
said good-by to their teacher. 



APPENDIX 
STANDARD FOR A BEGINNERS' DEPARTMENT 

The following standard for a Beginners' Department was 
prepared by expert Elementary workers under' the direction 
of the Children's Work Committee of the Sunday School 
Council. It presents the best plans for doing the best things 
to bring about the best results in the life of a child. 

What should appear in the conduct of a child as a result 
of the teacher's work is first stated; then those things which 
a child must have in order that these results may come; 
lastly, the best methods and plans for doing the work. These 
are designated respectively as the Standard in conduct, 
Standard in teacher's aims, and Standard in means. 

The use of this Standard will mean increased efficiency in 
any Beginners' Department because it provides two essentials 
for good work — knowledge and definiteness. 

The Standard for a Beginners' Department is that which 
it is possible for a child to become during the years of four 
and five. 

What the child becomes, manifests itself in conduct. 

Conduct 
I. The conduct of the Beginner may manifest : 
i. Love, trust and reverence for God. 

2. Association of the heavenly Father with daily life. 

3. Right behavior. 

4. Love for God through prayer, praise, and effort to 

please him. 

5. Love for others through acts of helpfulness. 

Aims 
II. To realize these ends in conduct, the child must have : 
1. A knowledge of the power of God, to give love, pro- 
tection, and care. 

155 



156 APPENDIX 

2. A consciousness of God as his heavenly Father and 

Jesus Christ as his friend. 

3. Ideals of right conduct. 

4. Opportunities for worship. j 

5. Opportunities for helpfulness. 

Means 

III. As means for realizing these ends, provision should be 
made for : 

1. Religious instruction and religious experience suited 

to the child of Beginners' age, secured through: 

(a) The use of Beginners' Graded Lessons. 

(b) The story method and informal conversation 

with pictures and objects. 

(c) Contact with nature. 

2. An environment which fosters religious feeling, se- 

cured by: 

(a) Providing a separate room (curtained or 
screened place where room is not available). 

(&) Making the room or corner attractive, home- 
like and childlike ; light and well ventilated ; 
appropriate in color and decoration. 

(c) Furnishing chairs suitable for little children 

(preferably arranged in a circle). 

(d) Adequate materials for teacher and children. 

(e) Having a separate program for the entire ses- 

sion where room is available. 

3. Opportunities for self-expression, secured through : 

(a) Worship in song, prayer, offerings, and Bible 
verses. 

(&) Conversation, retelling of stories, and hand- 
work. 

(c) Self-control in Sunday school. 

(d) Deeds of kindness possible for little children. 

4. Teachers qualified by nature, training and religious 

experience, that is, teachers who 



APPENDIX 157 

(a) Possess a sympathetic understanding of child 

life. 

(b) Have a personality attractive and helpful to 

children. 

(c) Seek frequent contact with little children in 

their home, school, and play life. 

(d) Are graduates or students in a Training Course, 

a Community Training School or a School of 
Principles and Methods. 

(e) Are continuing their specialized training in a 

Graded Union or by the reading of one 
specialization book a year. 
(/) Lead a sincere Christian life. 
5. Children of similar interests and limitations grouped 
into a Beginners' class or department. 

(a) Comprising children four and five years of age. 

(b) Having a teacher or superintendent and assist- 

ants. 1 

(c) Promoting children about six years of age to 

the Primary Department on annual promotion 
day. 

DIRECTIONS FOR OBSERVATION AND FOR PRAC- 
TICE TEACHING BY THE TRAINING CLASS 

Both the observation of teachers and children when in Sun- 
day school and the opportunity for practice teaching by the 
students of a training class are most helpful parts of a train- 
ing course if carried out carefully and thoroughly. 

In a City Institute training class made up of young stu- 
dents in preparation for future teaching the following direc- 
tions for observation and for practice teaching should be 
carried out with care. This will be found to be a most 
valuable feature of the course. When the course is used by 
the superintendent of a Beginners' Department with her 

1 Note. — If children under four years of age attend Sunday school, special 
provision should be made for them in a Cradle Roll class. 



158 APPENDIX 

assistants, the plan for observation and practice will require 
modification. 

In planning the work seek to learn of Beginners' Depart- 
ments that are most advantageous for visiting. In cities there 
will be always a choice to be made, and it will be wise to go 
outside of one particular denomination in seeking the best 
places to visit. Sometimes, a poorly taught group will show 
what ought not to be done, and students may consider what 
would be an improvement. Judgments should be made on the 
basis of the principles discussed in the lessons, but inexperi- 
enced teachers should not be hasty in decisions, and all need 
to be kind in negative criticism, remembering that there are 
conditions affecting management and teaching, of which 
visitors may not know. 

There are two ways of planning for observation work: in 
some classes it may come on appointed Sundays between 
certain lessons of the course, as suggested in the outline below. 
In others it will be better to leave the observation days until 
the completion of the course of study. The practice teaching 
should certainly come after the study and after most, if not 
all, of the observation. 

First Visiting Day 

Observe a group of children four to six years of age in 
Sunday school. Report in writing of three tendencies ob- 
served; for one, the tendency to investigate. Tell in what 
way these were evident. Always carry a notebook and take 
notes of points of interest while observing. 

Second Visiting Day 

After the sixth lesson visit the same, or another group of 
Beginners and be prepared to report at the next class session 
any indications noted of reverence, gratitude, or obedience. 
Also make note of any training being given in either of these 
directions. For this, observe first the manner and expression 
of the children. Watch for evidences of the indirect influence 
of the teacher as well as for direct instruction. Does there 



APPENDIX 159 

seem to be a spirit of reverence on the part of all? A spirit 
also of obedience? 

Third Visiting Day 

After the seventh lesson visit a Beginners' Department 
meeting in its own room and study its good and bad points, 
classifying these, and writing them down. Observe also 
and make note of the motherly qualities of some one teacher. 

Fourth Visiting Day 

After the eleventh lesson visit the Department again seek- 
ing to discover how (a) feelings are cultivated; (b) self- 
activity used; (c) the principle of the point of contact applied 
in the teaching observed. Give a written report of this 
observation with at least one illustration each of a, b, and c. 

Fifth and Sixth Visiting Days 

After the fourteenth lesson spend half of each class hour 
of these two Sundays in visiting, and then go to the class- 
room for discussion of observations made. On one day make 
a special study of the singing and on the other of the pray- 
ing and the singing. Try to see also if there is any play 
spirit evident, and if so, tell in what way. Judge of these 
three things from the principles already studied and the needs 
of the children that have been considered. 

Seventh Visiting Day 

After the seventeenth lesson study the story that is told 
by a teacher to children, and the way it is told. Compare with 
what you have been studying and note all the good points you 
can. 

Two Days of Practice Teaching 

After the seventh visiting day provide for two practice days 
in the training class. Practice in story-telling is most desir- 
able, and will be enjoyable when the members of the training 
class are in full sympathy with each other. Stories may be 
selected or assigned by the leader and three or four be told 



160 APPENDIX 

on the first practice day, and each one discussed. Let another 
group be taken in the same way on the second day. If the 
class is large, a third session may well be devoted to this 
purpose at this point or at a later time in the practice course. 

Final Visiting Days 

At the end of the course of study take from four to six 
visiting days, using two of these days in visiting groups pre- 
viously observed, with special reference to points studied in 
the later lessons ; for example, the control of the children, the 
successful management of a department, the use of pictures, 
and the offerings. Report on these orally or in writing. On 
two other days visit other groups, not before visited, if 
possible, and note conditions, methods, and programs evi- 
dent. If other groups cannot be visited, or the Beginners' 
group previously visited is very small, it will be wise to visit 
one or more Primary Departments to become familiar with 
what Beginners will pass on to, and to see the likenesses and 
differences between the two departments. One or two final 
sessions of the training class should be held for report and 
discussion of observations. 

Two Days for Program Making 

Devote two sessions of the class to program development. 
Each student may prepare at home a program for one Sunday. 
These should be read to the class and criticized on the two 
days, or this work of preparation may be done in the class 
on one day and be taken up for discussion the next day. 

Several Days of Practice Teaching 

A group of Beginners' children should be taught by dif- 
ferent members of the training class on successive days, while 
the rest, with the Training Class leader, observe the work. 
Discussion and suggestion should follow this teaching. 




A Beginners' Group about the Piano 



INDEX 

Action, direction of, 63. 

Administration: successful management of a Beginners' De- 
partment, 133; the superintendent and her assistants, 133; 
the pianist, 134; administrative detail, 135; supply of 
material, 135; hour for the session, 136; relationship with 
the whole school, 137. 

Aim for the Beginners' Department, 51, 155. 

Birthday gifts, 128; the celebration of birthdays, 145. 
Blackboard, the use of the, 115. 

Christmas party, A, 145. 

City mission, Sunday school in the, 150. 

Contact, point of, 67. 

Curiosity, 15, 26. 

Dependence, 25. 

Discipline: controlling young children, 129; in the beginners' 
room, 129; music as a means of control, 130; the teacher 
who controls, 130; direction more than restraint, 131; for 
a child's own good, 131. 

Equipment, 45, 46, 47, 48. 

Expenses, 135. 

Experience, knowledge through, 61. 

Expression, word, 117; by handwork, 118; through representa- 
tion, 120; representative motions, 120; through helping, 122; 
doing for others, 124. 

Faith, 17, 32. 
Fear, 17, 32, 36. 
Feeling, 62. 

Giving, united, 125; the giving of money, 126; birthday gifts, 

128. 
God as heavenly Father, 31; as the Giver of good gifts, 31. 
Godmother, the teacher as, 42. 
Gratitude, 36. 

165 



166 INDEX 

Growth, common to all life, 9; from within, 10; depends on 
self -activity, 10; is favored by right conditions, 11; proceeds 
by absorption, 7; aided by struggle, 13; depends on nurture, 

27. 
Guides for teaching, 67. 

Handwork, expression by, 118. 

Home: truth through home life, in; helpers for the home, 
in; cooperation, 139; what one teacher did, 139; a variety 
of plans, 140; the development of sympathy and under- 
standing, 141 ; securing definite cooperation, 142. 

Imagination, 17, 2> 2 * 
Imitation, 16. 
Instinct, 64. 

Jesus, how to first teach about, 33. 

Love, 41, 42, 96. 

Motherly teacher, the, 41. 
Mothers' meetings, 140. 

Music, the use and influence of, 75; methods, jy, 78; the 
pianist, 134. 

Nature, interest in, 31; stories, 99; objects of, 107; in the 
city Sunday school, 108; in the country Sunday school, 109; 
the value of nature observation, 109. 

Nurture, religious life depends on, 27. 

Obedience, 39. 

Observation and visiting, 157, 158. 

Offering in the Beginners' Department, The, 123; the word, 
126; receiving the offering, 127. 

Pictures, the wise and unwise use of, 113; the value of pic- 
tures in Sunday-school teaching, 113; the choice of, 113; 
illustrative of stories, 115; the use of the blackboard, 115; 
where to obtain, 116. 

Plans for the Beginners' session, 51. 

Play, three children at, 19; the teacher's use of, 22; the play 
spirit, 71 ; the place of play in the Sunday school, J2. 

Positive teaching, 70. 

Practice teaching, 157. 

Praying of a little child, The, 87; the purpose of a little 



INDEX 167 

child's praying, 87 ; the importance of right response, 88 ; the 
form of the prayer, 89 ; physical attitude in prayer, 90 ; how 
to secure the spirit of worship, 90; suitable prayers for 
beginners, 91. 
Principles of teaching, 61. 

Records, 135, 139- 

Religious life of a little child, 25. 

Reverence, 35. 

Room, a desirable, 45; how to adapt, 47. 

Rural church, Sunday school in a, 151. 

Self-activity, forms of, 117; growth depends on, 10. 

Simplicity, 69. 

Singing, little children, 75. 

Songs, types of, 79; good songs for beginners, 81; prayer 
songs, 81; miscellaneous songs, 82; nature songs, 84; songs 
for special days, 85 ; songs to be sung to children, 85. 

Special days, 143 ; a Sunday-school party, 143 ; a Thanksgiving 
party, 143; a Christmas party, 145; the celebration of 
birthdays, 145 ; a day in the woods, 146. 

Spiritual possibilities, 26. 

Standard for a Beginners' Department, 155. 

Stories, nature, 99; Bible, 102. 

Story-telling, the purpose of, 95; the high purpose of the 
story-teller, 95; threefold purpose, 97; fulfilling the pur- 
pose, 97; four rules for the story-teller, 103; the use of 
objects in, 104; the importance of real interest, 105; repeti- 
tion of stories, 104; abbreviation and expansion of stories, 
105; action is required, 105; judging the story, 106; becom- 
ing a story-teller, 106. 

Suburban church, Sunday school in a, 147. 

Supplies, 135. 

Thanksgiving party, A, 143. 

Training class, directions for observation and for practical 

teaching by the, 158. 
Trust, 25. 

Visiting days, 158. 

Worship, how to secure a spirit of, 90. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper procesi 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2005 

PreservationTechnologie: 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIO 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



. • • : .'. • • • ' . 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 670 731 2 



